The New Chick
by kyaxskyxgoddess
Summary: REPOST! COMPLETE! PreHalfblood Prince because I wrote it before that came out. Hermione is having some problems. A new girl is hogging all the attention, Hermione's having identity issues and now her enemy's obsessed with her alterego! What's a girl to
1. The New Chick

1REPOSTED! The moment you have all, or at least some of you, been waiting for! This story is back and, I hope, better than ever! For those of you who read this story before, this version is similar in some ways and different in others. Although I haven't exactly finished it yet, I do have enough chapters done that I think I'll be able to work on it as I post them. Read!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did I would bathe in hundred dollar bills and drop out of high school. As it is, this is not so. Damn.

Chapter 1: The New Chick

It was September first and Hermione was sitting alone in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express. She glanced out the window anxiously to see if she could spot Harry and Ron. /Where could they be? It's just like them to be late and miss the train/ she thought worriedly. Suddenly someone plopped down beside her. Thinking it was one of the boys, Hermione turned around with a smile on her face only to be greeted by a stranger.

"Hiya, mind if I sit here?" The girl asked, very friendly.

Hermione was slightly taken aback. "Um, sure."

"Thanks ever so much," the girl said. She sounded slightly sarcastic, more in a self-mocking way than anything directed at Hermione. "I'm Jule. Who are you?"

"Hermione," Hermione answered slowly. "Are you new? I don't think I've ever seen you before. And your accent is strange; American?"

"Yeah, I'm from New York," Jule answered with a bright smile. "My school was destroyed by the Death Eaters, so I moved here. Heard Hogwarts was the best and safest place to be, so I knew it was for me."

"Cool," Hermione smiled back warmly.

She had never seen anyone quite like Jule. She was dressed completely in black in a mini-skirt that only reached about mid-thigh and a tight tank-top with spaghetti string straps. She was very thin and her skin was pale, but she didn't seem sickly at all; in fact she seemed to be the epitome of health. Her muscles didn't bulge but they were clearly well defined and Hermione guessed that she must play Quidditch. Her ears were heavy with silver earrings and she had a tiny silver nose-stud. Her make-up was dark which only exaggerated her paleness: black eye-shadow and heavy black eye-liner and lipstick that was a very dark shade of red. Her hair was black, long, and curly and hung messily down her back as though it had never been touched by a comb. Seated she looked to be about the same height as Hermione, who was 5'2". But it wasn't just the way that Jule looked, it was the air of confidence and self-control that she wore like a cloak that struck Hermione.

"So," Hermione asked casually. "What's it like in the states?"

"Not much different from here, I expect. I haven't really spent much time here yet," Jule said. She was lounging in the chair, leaning back with her long legs stuck out in front of her. "My parents are muggles, in case you were wondering. I know that there's more prejudice here than back home. More old wizarding families. Back home there aren't all that many, most didn't leave their home countries to settle in America, so most of the 'purebloods' only go back a few generations and there're lots of muggleborns. You aren't a stuck-up pureblood by any chance, are you? 'Cause, now would really be the time to tell me."

"Oh no, no, of course not," Hermione hastened to assure her. "My parents are muggles too. But you're right; there are a few who'll bother you about it. Basically all of Slytherin House, really."

"Slytha-what?" Jule asked curiously.

"Slytherin. Hogwarts has four houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." She spoke the last with distaste. "I'm a Gryffindor."

"Interesting. I gather these Slytherins are the standard breed of Pureblood ass-hole?"

"Most of them." Hermione smiled. She liked this new girl; she was intriguing.

The whistle sounded and Hermione glanced up in annoyance. "Oh no! The trains about to start and my idiot friends aren't here yet! I hope we don't leave without them."

"Who're your friends?" Jule asked politely.

"Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Are they really? Fascinating. Is Harry Potter as hot in person as he is in all the papers?"

"Oh, well, yes he is," Hermione answered distractedly. She was looking almost frantically out the window, searching for her missing friends.

"Oh, we made it!"

Hermione spun around. There stood Harry and Ron, both breathing heavily.

"Hi Hermione," Harry said cheerfully. "How was your…" He drifted off as he saw Jule sitting next to Hermione.

"Guys, this is Jule. She's new." The boys just continued to stare at the new girl. Hermione realized how they would automatically over-look her in favor of Jule. She was just plain old Hermione, not exciting enough for the boys at school. She was a bit on the short side with bushy brown hair and a little extra baby fat. She wasn't exactly ugly, she knew, but she wasn't interesting at all. She wore plain clothing that covered her completely and rarely wore anything but her uniform. It also didn't help, she supposed, that she never wore make-up and spent all her time hiding behind books. Her skin was slightly tanned from the summer and her eyes were the same chocolaty brown as her hair. Over-all she was boring to look at, completely average.

The boys seemed able to pull themselves together now. The stopped drooling over Jule's long and exposed legs and held out their hands. "Harry Potter," Harry said at the same time as Ron said: "Ron Weasley."

"Oh, so you're the boys Hermione was looking for," Jule looked them over calculatingly and stood to shake their hands. Hermione realized that she had been wrong about Jule's height being the same as her own; the girl towered above her by about five inches. Of course, then Hermione looked down and saw her black boots with platforms that were about five inches thick.

The boys accepted the outstretched hand with enthusiasm, hardly able to tear their gazes away from Jule's low-cut tank-top and well-formed breasts. Hermione rolled her eyes. The other three people in the compartment sat down. "So," Harry started. "Where are you from? Your accent is American sounding."

"I would say your accent was British sounding," Jule said flirtatiously. "I'm from New York. The Death Eaters burned down my old school."

"I'm so sorry!" Harry always got upset and guilty about anything relating to the Death Eaters.

"Don't worry about it," Jule still sounded flirtatious.

"How was your summer Hermione?" Ron asked without taking his eyes off of Jule.

"Great," Hermione mumbled.

The four spent a few hours riding the train with Harry and Ron talking to Jule, who flirted shamelessly with both of them and occasionally tried to include Hermione. Hermione had just opened up a book when the golden trio and their new friend got their annual train-ride visit from none-other than the ferret-prince himself.

"Pothead, Weasel, Mudblood, pleasure to see you all again," Malfoy announced grandly as he shoved the door to the compartment open without knocking. "I've been absolutely desolate without your wonderful company all summer long." Then he noticed Jule. "Oh look, a new girl. From your clothes I'm guessing you could only be another mudblood; pity. You really are quite attractive for a piece of filth."

The boys leapt to their feet. Hermione, who was expecting them to defend her, readied herself to stop them. She always loved when they tried to kill Malfoy on her behalf; it always showed how much they cared. Her mouth was half-opened to stop the impending fight when she heard what came out of Harry's mouth: "Don't you dare talk about Jule that way!"

"Yeah!" Ron added valiantly.

Hermione was speechless. Wouldn't they even defend her at all? Malfoy, it seemed noticed this. "Oh look Granger; you've been replaced as the stupid mudblood already. Poor baby," he added wickedly.

The boys hardly noticed. "Now get out, you slimy git!" Harry shoved him out of the compartment. Malfoy's back slammed into the wood of the compartment door opposite theirs painfully, but he didn't care. He just kept smirking at Hermione. She shifted nervously; the look he was giving her told her quite plainly that he could read her every thought and feeling with just a look. He grinned at her evilly and then sauntered off. Hermione shivered.

"Sorry about that," Harry was apologizing. Hermione looked at him expectantly, but he was speaking to Jule. "That's Malfoy. He's like the king of Slytherin and he hates us."

Jule ignored him. "Are you OK Hermione?" She asked kindly. Hermione smiled at her reassuringly, feeling less invisible at last.

Harry looked at Hermione guiltily. "Oh, sorry Hermione," he mumbled, poking Ron with his elbow.

"Oh, yeah, we're sorry Hermione. We were just caught up with defending Jule. You understand; she's new and doesn't know about the amazing bouncing ferret yet." Ron added.

"It's OK guys," Hermione said, smiling in a motherly way at them. "I understand." /Yeah, I understand that you both have your heads shoved so far up your asses you can't notice anyone but yourselves and the new hot chick/ she added silently. She hastened to smother the thought in positive feelings. Hermione often had such thoughts but rarely voiced them. After all, you catch bees better with honey than vinegar. It was her mantra.

Hermione settled back into her seat, reading her book and ignoring her friends. In truth they were ignoring her, but it made her feel better to think that it was her own bad manners rather than that her friends were blatantly ignoring her. She dimly noted sometime later when Jule switched seats with Ron so that Ron was sitting next to Hermione and Harry and Jule were making out. Hermione snorted quietly as Ron sighed in jealousy before she went back to ignoring everyone. Especially the slurping noises coming from across the compartment.

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Eventually the train ride ended, like it did every year, and the students had to get off. Jule said her good-byes to Harry, Ron, and Hermione and went to join the first-years where they flocked around Hagrid. Harry and Ron noticed Hermione again and the three rode the carriages up to the castle. At some point, unnoticed by the three in the carriage, it started to rain. It wasn't heavy, more of a mist than anything but they were still all rather damp by the time they reached the Great Hall. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and waited for the sorting to commence.

"I hope Jule gets sorted into Gryffindor," Harry said with slightly swollen lips. Ron just nodded and glared at Harry enviously.

"Yeah, me too," Hermione said with less enthusiasm. She liked Jule, but the way that she tended to attract the attention of everyone present made Hermione feel left out.

"Ooh look, here they come!" Harry said excitedly as the first years, Jule, and several other older children followed McGonagall into the hall. It seemed that Jule wasn't the only kid whose school had been destroyed.

The sorting hat sang its song along with the little warning for the houses to stick together and the sorting took place. Each house got a few first years and several older children, although Slytherin only got one. Ron spent the entire ceremony moaning about being hungry, that is the entire ceremony until Jule had the hat placed on her head. Everyone was staring at her, the boys admiringly and the girls jealously. She did have quite a bit of her body exposed, after all. The hat considered her for several long moments before shouting, "Gryffindor!" loudly. The Gryffindors cheered their welcome to her as they did for all new students, although it was plain that the boys were cheering rather louder than the girls.

"Hey guys," Jule sauntered casually over to the golden trio and sat next to Hermione, leaving the unoccupied seat next to Harry empty. He looked a bit disappointed.

"Hey," Hermione said, trying to sound equally casual and not really thinking that she had succeeded. "Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor."

"Thanks," Jule smiled widely and surveyed the Great Hall, taking an extra moment to inspect the stormy ceiling above. "It always like that?" She asked, gesturing towards the clouds. "'Cause that'd get real depressing after a while."

"No," Hermione also looked skyward. "Just when it's like that outside. The ceiling is charmed to reflect the sky outside. Usually it's pretty nice here. Although, for some strange reason it almost always seems to rain on the first day."

"It's a tactic used to scare first-years, prolly," Jule said casually, sniffing curiously at the strange food about her. "My old school used to do that. It keeps them sedated so the first day goes smoothly, and you know first impressions, a stormy night makes the whole atmosphere of the school more dramatic and mysterious."

First impressions, Hermione thought. Her first impression of Jule was that she was nice, if a bit on the slutty side. But then, if it wasn't hurting anyone, Jule could slut away as far as Hermione was concerned.

"I don't think so," Hermione replied. "Hogwarts is pretty mysterious, but Dumbledore's nice. I don't think he would use a 'scare tactic' like that on a bunch of eleven year olds." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Ignore Hermione," he said dryly. "She thinks she knows everything about everything."

Hermione smirked sarcastically at him to hide how much his words stung. /Bastard/ she thought bitterly//Just because I'm smarter than you doesn't mean I think I know everything./

"I personally think it's a brilliant theory," Ron continued, leaning his elbow on the table and cupping his face in his hand. It was the first time in Hermione's memory that he had ever sat at the Gryffindor table without constantly shoving food into his mouth. The fact that he was practically drooling over Jule made Hermione slightly nauseous. She had thought he had some respect for women, and for Harry who had just been kissing the damn girl.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked over Harry's shoulder, across the hall to where Malfoy was grinning maliciously at her. /Huh/ Hermione thought lazily//Malfoy, malicious. Why didn't I ever make that connection before/

The rest of the meal was filled with similar idle chatter and inner thoughts of annoyance at the stupidity of boys. Hermione was really feeling quite neglected. No one had even commented on the fact that she was wearing her shiny new Head Girl's badge. She had put it on just before dinner, during the sorting, and no one had even blinked at it.

When at last Dumbledore announced that dinner was over, Ron and another prefect led the sleepy first years, and Jule, up to the common room. Hermione walked with Harry, the two of them trailing slightly behind the clump of eleven year olds.

"Isn't Jule great?" Harry asked dreamily. Hermione rolled her eyes and bit her tongue.

When they at last reached the portrait hole Hermione stopped short. "Good night." She said loudly enough to snap Harry out of his fog and make him notice her.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you coming in?" Harry asked in confusion.

"No," Hermione said slowly. "I'm the Head Girl. See the big, shiny badge?" She flashed it at him. "I have a separate room and a common room with the Head Boy. So I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh," Harry still seemed surprised. "Congratulations?"

"Thanks ever so," Hermione allowed some sarcasm to slip in before she caught herself. /Honey, dammit/ she thought angrily at herself.

"Well, uh, good night," Harry said dimly.

"See ya," Hermione casually stuck her hand in the air and walked away.

Reaching a portrait of a rather unattractive, elderly witch, Hermione sighed out the password, "Mot de passe." After many years of French, Hermione found the password crude and childish. Really, all it meant was "password" except that it was in French. /Whatever/ Hermione was too depressed to care about stupid passwords. She had made a new friend, but her new friend also looked like she would inadvertently ruin Hermione's last year at Hogwarts with Harry and Ron.

Strolling into the common room Hermione was not one bit surprised to see the amazing blonde ferret sitting casually on the couch, flipping through a Quidditch magazine. "Evening, Malfoy," Hermione mumbled darkly, barely glancing at him as she strode towards her room, slamming the door behind her and flopping down on her new bed.

Malfoy just blinked after her for a moment, before shrugging and continuing to read his magazine.

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Hermione flipped herself over on her bed and stared at the ceiling, sighing discontentedly. The year had held such promise, but now that seemed ruined. Everyone else was entranced by Jule, and Hermione would be replaced and forgotten. Sighing again, Hermione surveyed her new, lonely room.

The room was almost completely blank. There was a four-poster bed, a chair, a small fireplace, a book-shelf, and a chest-of-drawers. But they were all bare and everything was white. It would be Hermione's task to unpack and decorate the room as she saw fit.

Figuring she would have to get started eventually, Hermione pulled her wand out of her sleeve and started casting charms. She made the chair, bed, the book-shelf and the chest warm, deep red wood. She then made the drapes on the window and around the bed, as well as the sheets and comforter, a deep-burgundy, and she covered the floor in squishy, brown carpets. Using the accio spell, she quickly filled her book-shelf as well as her chest-of-drawers, and she covered the walls with pictures of her friends and family, as well as a few muggle posters that she had brought with her.

Surveying her walls Hermione felt a little better, until she looked at one of the pictures she had put up without realizing it. It was a picture of her, smiling in the arms of a boy with brown hair. He had been her summer boyfriend, the first real boyfriend she had ever had. Now she regretted knowing him. Ripping the picture from the wall and tearing it to shreds, Hermione collapsed upon her bed once more, and this time she fell asleep.

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The next morning Hermione awoke with a nauseous headache pulsing behind her eyes. It almost felt as though she had drunk too much, except that she knew it was just her feeling lousy inside being reflected physically. Rubbing her face Hermione groaned and felt like breaking something.

Hermione dressed quickly in her same old uniform, the one that was long and loose enough to make her look a bit like a lump with arms and legs. Popping a few Advil, Hermione stood in front of her full-length mirror and surveyed herself. When she looked at her face she stuck her tongue out at herself just like she always did. It helped her avoid looking too closely at herself. She didn't like what she saw.

Lugging her huge bag, stuffed with summer homework, Hermione stomped out of her room and into the common room, where once again Malfoy sat on the couch, this time looking like he was waiting for her.

"Morning Malfoy," Hermione said, walking past him and heading towards the portrait. With the speed of a seeker Malfoy raced to stand in front of her.

"Granger, we need to talk," he said seriously.

"Why?" Hermione asked acidly. No need to use honey on this one; he was a wasp, and.

"Because, we have to live together, and I think some ground-rules need to be laid down here and now."

"Well I don't care what you think," Hermione spat at him, trying to walk around him. He moved with her, still in her way. "Let me pass. We have classes this morning."

"Not until you listen to me," Malfoy said stubbornly, moving to the right as Hermione tried that direction.

Sighing, Hermione gave up. "Be quick Malfoy."

"Alright," Malfoy said. "First and foremost, don't go in my room," "Like I'd want to," Hermione muttered. Malfoy pretended not to hear. "Second, if you wish to address me, I would take it kindly if you would refrain from such childish epithets as 'ferret' or 'bouncing ferret' or anything to do with ferrets whatsoever. I in turn will stop calling you mudblood, even though you are one, if only to keep the peace," "Damn decent of you," Hermione said sarcastically. Malfoy still ignored her. "And thirdly, if I happen to come back to my room accompanied by a girl, I would appreciate it if you would not listen at my door. I know you want me, but you'll just have to contain your lust." He grinned evilly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted. "Fine, whatever. Here are my rules: first, stay the hell out of MY room. I know you want to rummage through my panty-drawer, but 'you'll just have to contain yourself'. Second, fine, I won't call you ferret, but if you even so much as hint at me having dirty blood, I'll turn you into a ferret in a flash and have you bouncing all over again," Malfoy blushed, "And thirdly, you sicken me. If you bring a girl back, please have the common sense and decency to cast a silencing charm or two. I really don't need to hear Pansy Parkinson screaming in the throes of ecstasy, thank you very much."

"Done?" Malfoy asked pseudo-politely.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Now move before I ferretize you, please?" Malfoy stepped aside with a mocking bow. "Merci beaucoup," Hermione curtseyed back just as mockingly before pushing the portrait out of the way and stepping into the hallway.

"This year'll just be buckets of fun," Malfoy muttered to himself before following after Hermione into the corridor and towards the Great Hall.

TBC…..

Because I am the coolest author ever here is a preview for you all:

The entire room was filled with a strange golden glowing, tinged with red in some places. Hermione pulled her hand from the globe, but the glowing continued. When she looked at the golden ball Hermione saw that it had turned clear, as though truly made of crystal. Within it she saw herself, plain old Hermione, standing completely still. Suddenly her image morphed into…

READ NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT WHAT! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


	2. The Golden Globe

1Thanks for the reviews.

Chapter 2: The Golden Globe

Hermione breathed a deep sigh of relief upon reaching the Great Hall. Despite having to share a room with Malfoy, and despite her best friends ignoring her, Hermione was glad to be back in school. The sight and smell and sound of the Great Hall alone brought back a flood of sweet memories. They seemed bitter-sweet now though; after this year there would be no more meals here, laughing with her friends or ignoring them for her books.

Hermione was there before most of the other Gryffindors, which was to be expected, she supposed. Harry and Ron were not at the table yet, but Jule was. She sat all by herself, eating a muffin and sipping her coffee lovingly.

"Good morning," Hermione said politely, sitting across from Jule and reaching for a muffin herself.

"Morning," Jule sounded irritatingly chipper, and for a moment Hermione contemplated throwing the muffin at her.

"Why are you so awake?" She asked pitifully. "It's only seven-thirty!"

"I've been up since five," Jule proclaimed cheerfully, taking a big bite of muffin. "I go jogging every morning. The grounds here are beautiful." Although her mouth was full, her words were surprisingly clear. Hermione noted detachedly that her teeth were stained blue from the blueberries in her muffin.

"Good for you," Hermione said testily. She hated getting up early, but she always did. Of course, usually she had time to compose herself and pour on the honey before talking to anyone. Jule had caught her off guard.

"You're a bit more interesting in the morning, aren't you?" Jule observed interestedly. "Fascinating. Don't like the mornings much? You should come jogging with me; you'd be in better shape."

Hermione shot her an insulted look. "Thanks ever so, but as tempting as your offer is, I don't think I'd enjoy getting up at five in the morning."

"No problems there," Jule grinned, teeth still blue. "We can go in the afternoons after lessons are over. Build up an appetite for dinner."

"I'll think about it," Hermione lied. She detested jogging. "You're teeth are blue," she pointed out rudely.

"Are they?" Jule asked, surprised. "Thanks!" Pulling out a small pocket mirror she checked her reflection before casting a simple cleansing spell. Her teeth positively gleamed.

A little while later, once more students had arrived, Harry and Ron came strolling in, yawning widely. "Morning Herm, Jule," Harry said, grinning widely. "The uniform looks great on you." This was obviously addressed to Jule. Hermione rolled her eyes.

/Of course she looks great/ she thought furiously//Look what she's done to it/ Jule had obviously used magic to make the skirt shorter, ridiculously shorter in fact, as well as make the shirt tighter and more low-cut. Her tie hung loosely about her neck, and she had stuck a skull pin in it. Her robes were long, black and left completely open to reveal what she was wearing. When Hermione glanced down she noted that Jule's shoes were plain black Mary-Janes with platforms to rival those of her boots yesterday. As for her face, it was very Jule. Her hair was still extremely messy, as though she owned no comb, but she had somehow magicked sparkling pink streaks into it before pulling it into two small buns at the back of her head. Strands hung loosely about her face. Her make-up was done to match the hair, magically sparkling pink eye-shadow and lipstick, with black eyeliner and mascara to match her hair. She was really quite a sight.

Hermione ignored the sparkling pinkness in front of her and picked at her muffin. Harry sat down next to Jule and draped his arm around her shoulders. Hermione fought down a wave of jealousy. Not that she wanted Harry, quite the opposite, but because she longed to have someone to sit with who would hug her around the shoulders. Then Jule surprised Hermione.

Shrugging Harry off, Jule edged slightly away from him on the long bench. "Whoa Harry, what're you doing? I don't know you that well, ya know?"

"But, we were, you were, you kissed me!" Harry stuttered out. "I thought that meant that we'd be going out now!"

"No offense Harry, you're a nice guy and all, but just 'cause we made out once doesn't mean we're going out. I don't date monogamously. Don't have it in me. But I hope we can be friends." She said all this openly and sincerely, not trying to sound sympathetic or sorry for giving him the brush-off. Then, without giving him a second glance she turned to face Hermione.

"So, Herm, do you really like that nick-name? 'Cause I think I'd rather call you something else. Herm makes me think of my Uncle Herman. Nasty old pervert, he was. Anything you'd especially like to be called?" Hermione stared at her blankly. "Hmm, right then," Jule said, scrunching up her face in thought. "What shall I call you… Mione? No, it rhymes with hiney; I can imagine the awful insults already. How about… My? But no, that doesn't really work. Hmm… Add an a and you have May! Short, simple, and, best of all, pretty. What do you think?" She grinned widely. Now there were poppy-seeds stuck in her teeth from her second muffin.

"I think I'd prefer May," Hermione agreed, watching as Jule glowed at her own genius. "It is my favorite month, after all."

"Is it? That's nice." Jule, who was pouring herself more coffee and mixing in ridiculous amounts of sugar, didn't really seem to care.

"The flowers are out in May." Hermione said casually.

"Flowers are indeed an important component of the whole month of May thing. After all, April showers do bring May flowers." Jule carefully measuring out what had to be the fiftieth spoonful of sugar as she said all this.

"Indeed," Hermione agreed mock-seriously.

Throughout the whole naming discussion Harry and Ron had stared at the two girls, both feeling rather neglected. Although Ron was feeling better about his chances with Jule now that she had turned Harry down. He didn't need a girlfriend; he needed to lose his virginity. Something told him that Jule would be the perfect girl for that.

Hermione was also feeling better. There was something about spending time with Jule, especially when she was ignoring the boys in favor of Hermione's company, that cheered her up. It was like Jule was a magnet, and all those around her were drawn to her. Hermione could feel herself getting sucked in, loosening up a bit. And for one moment a new thought flashed through her mind; why would she want to catch flies with honey in the first place; flies were pests. Why not just pour the vinegar on all the way and see what might happen?

Before this thought fully registered the schedules were being passed around and Hermione was inspecting hers. "Hmm, transfiguration first. It's advanced, so that means she'll be testing us to see if anyone has the potential to become an animagus. Those who have it will get special lessons from her after dinner every Wednesday."

"How do you know these things?" Ron asked, amazed at her knowledge and nerdiness.

"I'm Head Girl," she explained proudly. "They tell me these things before hand."

"That's special," Harry said mockingly. He was obviously still bitter over Jule.

"Get over it Harry," Jule told him flippantly. "It ain't never gonna happen, so bitching and moaning and making everyone else's day worse isn't gonna make any difference."

Harry glared at her petulantly, so she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and moved on, "Yeah, whatever." But it was obvious that he would still seize any opportunity she offered to make out with her.

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When the students were quiet and had laid everything out on their desks, Professor McGonagall began to speak. "Now, I want everyone to turn to chapter seven in your text-books. That will be the reading for this year, and when we are finished you will all be masters of transfiguration."

The class clapped weakly. Each chapter was several hundred pages long, meant to cover one year of school each, and chapter seven was the longest of all. Of course, what Hermione knew that the rest didn't, due to the fact that she had read ahead already, was that a great deal of the last chapter was recapping everything they had already learned. If they remembered what they had studied before and had kept their old notes they would be fine.

"Now," McGonagall continued. "I want you all to start taking notes on pages one through ten while I call you up one by one to be tested for animagi potential." There was a slight murmuring amongst the students. Jule, who was sitting next to Hermione in the back of the room, raised her hand. "Yes, Miss McKay," McGonagall called on her.

"Excuse me professor, but—" she started before McGonagall interrupted her. "If you're behind us Granger can bring you up to speed," she said. "I don't know how far your old teachers got with you."

"It's not that, professor," Jule said politely. "I already read the whole book over the summer, just to make sure," there was a slight gasp from the other students. "I just wanted to tell you that I already know that I'm an animagus. I've been able to change since my first year at my old school."

McGonagall blinked, clearly shocked. "Well then," she said calmly. "Are you registered with the Ministry?"

"In America I am, but I'm still waiting for it to come through over here," Jule answered. "I'm not supposed to change until they say I can."

"Well," McGonagall said. "It's quite alright to change here, under my supervision. The Ministry tends to make an exception for Hogwarts."

"Alright," Jule said, just as calm as McGonagall. And with that she shifted into a bat and started to flap about above the student's heads.

"Very well, Miss McKay," McGonagall sounded slightly shaken up. "You may change back."

Bat-Jule fluttered around for a moment before landing in her chair and changing back, seated properly with her legs crossed primly. The rest of the students clapped enthusiastically. She made small, theatrical bows from her seat, smirking sardonically.

"Alright," McGonagall said. "That's enough." The clapping stopped. "Now, get to work and I will call you up individually."

As the students set to work, Hermione stared at Jule, thinking quickly. /She read the whole book over the summer/ Hermione thought//That's incredible. And she's a natural born animagus, no training required at all. Been doing it since she was eleven! Probably could've earlier, if she hadn't been raised by muggles./ Her mind was racing. What if Jule was smarter than her? What if Hermione wasn't an animagus? What if Jule was the best at everything, and would shove Hermione aside as the top student? Considering she could change into a bat, Snape might take a liking to her, Gryffindor or not, and give her a better grade than Hermione. Snape hated Hermione.

Hermione's hand raced across the parchment, copying down notes while her mind was off elsewhere. It was a talent she had perfected over the years to split her focus so she could copy down notes and day-dream at the same time. She was so engrossed that she was quite shocked to hear McGonagall shout out, "Miss Granger! Please come to the front of the room."

Hermione placed her quill down on the desk and moved towards McGonagall's desk. "Now, Granger," McGonagall started kindly. "Please place your left hand on this globe here." She gestured towards a perfectly round golden ball mounted on a pedestal. Hermione thought it looked a bit like a crystal ball dipped in gold paint.

Once her hand was on it McGonagall began to mutter words over it, moving her wand in an intricate pattern. After several moments McGonagall stopped and stared expectantly at Hermione's hand. Nothing happened. Doubt began to fill Hermione. She had always hoped to be an animagus; it meant she was more likely to take McGonagall's place if she ever retired, something she had always thought might be good once she was old.

After several moments of nothing Hermione sighed and began to withdraw her hand. McGonagall gestured for her to stop, and suddenly something started to happen. Warmth and a strange tingling sensation spread from Hermione's hand to the rest of her body, making her feel as though power had just been poured into her. "What—" she started to say, before it was cut off by a gasp. The tingling had just exploded within her, and the power had escaped from her skin, flooding the room. The entire room was filled with a strange golden glowing, tinged with red in some places. Hermione pulled her hand from the globe, but the glowing continued. When she looked at the golden ball Hermione saw that it had turned clear, as though truly made of crystal. Within it she saw herself, plain old Hermione, standing completely still. Suddenly her image morphed into the form of a large, powerful lioness. Her fur was pure gold, and her eyes were a pure chocolaty brown. The glowing stopped.

Panting, Hermione stepped away from the globe. "What did you see?" McGonagall asked intently.

Still breathing heavily, as though she had just run for a mile, Hermione gasped out, "Lioness." Before collapsing onto the cold stone floor.

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A/N: Hehehe

Preview:

"If I catch you sneaking around here doing weird, American things I'll change the password and keep the new one from you."


	3. The Lesson

1Once again, thank you for the reviews.

Chapter 3: The Lesson

When Hermione awoke she was lying in the hospital wing, staring up into Jule's worried eyes. With a shriek, Hermione jumped a bit, as Jule screamed as well and fell backwards.

"Why'd you scream?" Jule yelled from the floor. "You scared the shit outta me!"

"I scared you?" Hermione yelled back, leaning back against her pillows and breathing heavily. "Why the hell were you staring at me like that? You almost gave me a bloody heart-attack!"

"I was waiting for you to wake up," Jule replied conversationally, sitting up and propping her arms up on the side of Hermione's bed. Clearly over her fright, she continued. "McGonagall told me to sit with you, and when you wake up I'm s'posed to take you to the Headmaster's office. She said you'd know the password, and that you'd also know how to cast a deafening charm so I couldn't hear it." Jule scowled. "I don't think she trusts me very much."

"Can ya blame her?" Hermione asked, gesturing exasperatedly at Jule's pink, still sparkling hair. "You look like a freak."

"Thanks, May," Jule said, actually sounding sincere. "You don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that."

"Shut up," Hermione grumbled grouchily, getting out of bed and stalking towards the door, Jule following behind.

"So," Jule said as they walked towards Dumbledore's office. "What did you see when you touched the ball?"

"What do you mean, what did I see?" Hermione asked back. "The whole bloody room was filled with a blinding golden light, didn't you see it?"

"No," Jule said slowly, as though talking to an idiot. "I saw the golden light, but I'd like to know what animal you saw."

"Well," Hermione replied primly, insulted by Jule's condescension. "I saw myself, the normal me, then I turned into a lioness."

"Really?" Jule sounded excited. Hermione figured she must be hyper from the sugar in her two breakfast muffins. "That's awesome! I'm only a bat, but you must be an awfully powerful witch to be able to turn into a lioness. It's the big animals like that that powerful animagi turn into. I'm pretty weak."

Hermione blushed. "Thanks, I guess." There was a long pause as they continued walking. "So, how long was I unconscious?" She asked, more to fill the silence than out of actual curiosity.

"'Bout seven hours," Jule checked her watch. "Give or take."

"Seven hours!" Hermione yelled. "What about your classes? You didn't skip the first day to watch me sleeping, did you?"

"No, of course not!" Jule shot back. "Classes are over now. I went to my classes and Madame Pomfrey watched you, but when I was done I came by to visit and she told me to keep an eye on you. She got distracted by some first years that got acid burns last period in Herbology."

"Poor kids," Hermione muttered. "Great start to the next seven years of their lives, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jule shrugged it off. "Anyway, Pomfrey asked me to watch you and a little while later you woke up."

"Hmm," Hermione muttered, irritated that Jule didn't care about the poor first years. They were just eleven, still babies, no doubt freaked out as it was to be in Hogwarts. The last thing any child needed was to get acid burns, especially on their first day away at a new boarding school!

The two girls continued on in silence, but not for long because they were almost at Dumbledore's office already. When they reached the griffin, Hermione cast a deafening charm on Jule and told him the password, "Earwax Bertybot," which Hermione found quite disturbing. The two quickly rode the moving stairs up to Dumbledore's office. Jule wanted to run back down and do it again, but Hermione punched her in the arm and knocked on the door. "Come in," the headmaster called.

Pushing the heavy door open Hermione stepped into the fascinating office. "Ah, Hermione, you're awake," Dumbledore smiled kindly, pushing a cup of tea and a cookie into her hands as he motioned for her to sit before him. "And Miss McKay, you're here too," he smiled again before giving her the same treatment as Hermione. "Now then, since we're all settled, I suppose we should get down to business," he said in his slightly raspy old voice. "Miss Granger, it has been brought to my attention that you have great animagus potential. Congratulations!" Hermione muttered a shy thank you. "Never mind that," Dumbledore brushed off her thanks.

"Now, you are in need of training. Although originally Professor McGonagall had planned to teach you herself, she just realized that she is far too busy attending to her duties as Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house. Therefore, it has been decided that Julie here will be in charge of your training as well as that of one other student who was discovered to have animagus potential. So, every Wednesday after dinner you will all adjourn to a place of your choosing for lessons. Any questions?" The two girls mutely shook their heads. "Splendid! Now, I want each of you to take a lemon drop and be on your way!" He cried jovially, offering out the candies and then gesturing towards his door.

The two girls left in silence. As soon as they were a bit past the griffin Jule burst. "Teach! ME, teach YOU! The man's fucking insane!"

"Julie?" Hermione asked slyly, looking pointedly in Jule's direction.

"Shut up," Jule muttered shortly. "Don't talk to me, don't even look at me."

With that they continued on in silence, Hermione grinning widely and looking straight ahead as Jule, or Julie, muttered angrily to herself.

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Because the first day of school happened to be a Monday, it was not long at all until Wednesday rolled around. Hermione and Jule, and supposedly the other animagus, were all instructed to stay behind after dinner to meet up and decide where the lesson should be held.

Hermione was excited; she couldn't wait to start trying to turn into the lioness. It seemed to take the rest of the student body forever to finish their dinner that night as Hermione and Jule sat in their seats, Jule looking slightly dejected and Hermione was bouncing up and down with nervous energy.

"If you don't stop that," Jule drawled without even looking at Hermione, "I'll deduct points from Gryffindor. Teachers around here seem to love doing that."

"Why would you deduct points from your own house?" Hermione wanted to know. "Besides, as Head Girl I could just give them right back."

"Shut up," Jule said crossly, still staring off into space instead of at Hermione.

It was not much longer after that before some silent message seemed to communicate itself throughout the other students that sent them all leaving to go to their common rooms. "That was fast," Jule remarked lazily as the last student, a short, chubby third-year Hufflepuff, high-tailed it out of the room. "If you ask me there's some serious herd mentality going on here."

"Oh no," Hermione groaned, seeing who the only other person left in the empty hall was. "Malfoy."

"Ah," Malfoy breathed, strolling casually towards Hermione and Jule. "My two favorite mudblood Gryffindors. Lovely evening for learning, isn't it?"

"What animal are you supposed to be, Malfoy?" Hermione snarled. "A ferret, perhaps?"

Malfoy paled slightly. "I thought we had a deal, Granger," he muttered.

"You just called me a mudblood!" Hermione yelled in exasperation. "Ferret," she added as an afterthought.

"Huh, I did didn't I?" Malfoy said, sounding a little surprised. "I guess when you say something so many times…"

"Go to hell," Hermione snarled.

"Only to visit you," Malfoy quipped back.

"PEOPLE!" Jule yelled over their noise. "Why don't we all just play nice and get this over with, OK?"

"Fine," they both snarled at the same time. Realizing it, Hermione glared at Malfoy while he smirked irritatingly at her.

"God," Jule muttered, running her hand through her hair in exasperation. It was all blond today, and her make-up was gold to match. Hermione personally thought she looked a bit like a pine-apple, but that was just her. "Come on. Where do you guys wanna work?"

"Let's go to our common room," Malfoy said quickly. "No ones allowed in their, so we won't be interrupted.

"Decent idea, Blondie," Jule said a bit flirtatiously.

"Don't even try it, Yellowy," he shot back.

"Wasn't gonna," she held her hands up innocently. "Promise. I won't bite; I never quite acquired a taste for ferret." He blushed. "What is that all about?" Jule asked. "Why do they all call you ferret, or ferret-prince, or 'the amazing bouncing ferret'?" He turned especially red at the last one before stalking off in the direction of the Head dormitories without saying anything. "What?" Jule asked Hermione. "What'd I say?"

"He's a bit sensitive about the ferret incident," Hermione said quietly as they followed a few feet behind Malfoy. "I'll tell you 'bout it later."

"OK," Jule shrugged.

By the time the three of them reached the portrait of the elderly witch Malfoy seemed to have regained his composure. "Alright, I suppose you'll need to learn the password to come to the lessons," he told Jule curtly. "I don't want to have to wait for you in the Great Hall every Wednesday."

"Very sensible of you."

Ignoring her, Malfoy continued. "So, I won't cast a deafening spell on you, but don't think that means you can come in here whenever you like. If I catch you sneaking around here doing weird, American things I'll change the password and keep the new one from you."

Rolling her eyes, Jule nodded emphatically. "Alright, alright, can we just go inside?"

"Fine," Malfoy spun about dramatically and faced the portrait. "Mot de passe," he said with a horrible French accent. Hermione snorted. "What?" He snarled at her as the portrait swung open.

"Nothing," Hermione smiled sweetly at him before leading the way into the common room.

Before then Hermione had only spent moments in the common room, on her way to or from her room. Now she took the time to examine it. It was a large room, although smaller than the common room in Gryffindor tower, with high ceilings and a large fire place. The walls were stone, but were mostly covered in colorful tapestries to make them more homey feeling. The floor was stone as well, but was almost completely covered by a series of soft, thick carpets. There were two high backed arm-chairs facing one another across the open space before the fireplace, one red and the other green. Directly in front of the fireplace was a large, slightly squishy-looking couch which, in an effort to create some neutral territory, was an unattractive brownish color. Other than the chairs there was nothing distinctly Gryffindor or Slytherin about the whole room. There were two doors, one to the left and one to the right. The red chair was to the left, as was Hermione's room, and she guessed that the other door on the right was Malfoy's. They each had their own bathroom as a part of their rooms to avoid unfortunate co-ed accidents.

Hermione, remember how she had decorated her own room, wondered vaguely how Malfoy had decorated his own room. One can tell a lot about a person based on how they decorate their room.

"Now then," Jule, who was now reclining on the squishy brown couch, cleared her throat. "I am going to teach you how to turn into your animal shapes, also known as some technical word that I can't remember right now. But don't worry; you'll never use it, so why learn it? Anywho, basically all there is to it, if you have the natural talent, is to picture the animal in your head and imagine being it. Using that shiny ball thingy McGonagall has, you should have discovered what your animal is. I know what May's is, Malfoy what's yours?"

"Why should I tell you?" Malfoy asked insolently.

"Malfoy, are you completely daft?" Hermione asked, exasperated. "She's teaching us! Maybe knowing what animal you are might be useful."

"Yeah!" Jule added fiercely.

"Fine!" Malfoy threw his hands in the air. "I'll tell you the bloody animal I saw. No need to get your panties in a twist. It's just…"

"What?" Hermione asked tartly. "Embarrassed to let on that you really are a ferret?"

"No!" Malfoy yelled. "At least, not the ferret part. It is odd though."

"Why, what could possibly be so odd?"

"Stop pressuring me!"

"Just spit it out already!"

"Fine," he gave up. "I saw a wolf."

A/N: Dude, as I was rewriting this chapter I realized something totally creepy. I started the story last year when I didn't have any friends at my school, but this year I actually got some and my closest school friend has the same last name as Jule. Freaky, no? Oh yeah, review.

Preview:

Closing her eyes, she turned around and kissed him, not caring that she didn't know him, wanting to feel the way Jule must when she kissed strangers.


	4. Mystery Kisser

1Yay reviews! I loves them so.

Chapter 4: Mystery Kisser

"So?" Hermione was confused. "What's so odd about being a wolf? It's a perfectly normal animal, really."

"What's odd is that I should have been a snake or something." Malfoy explained irately. "For one thing it's my house's animal and for another my grandfather was an animagus and his animal form was a snake."

"Well, while there have been studies that that kind of thing can be genetic, the common thought at present in the magical community is that animagi's forms are based purely on they themselves. That means that you're an animagus and a wolf because it's a part of your soul, not because you inherited the trait from your grandfather." Hermione stated smartly.

"What, did you get that right out of a bloody book?" Malfoy asked snidely.

"As a matter of fact I read it in an article. But I should send them an owl that I've proved the theory wrong," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"How's that?" Malfoy was only half interested.

"Well, it can't be based on your soul Malfoy, you haven't got one."

The next five minutes was devoted to childish yelling and name-calling back and forth between Hermione and Malfoy until they both realized they sounded like idiots and sub-sided.

After waiting in silence for several moments, Jule began the lesson.

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An hour later, Hermione irritably threw one of the cushions on the couch across the room. "Why can't I do it?" She asked angrily. For the past hour both she and Malfoy had struggled to change into their animal forms. The most they had managed was to each sprout a bit of fur, gold for Hermione and grey for Malfoy. "It's not supposed to be this hard!"

"You're blocking it, both of you," Jule said calmly, seated cross-legged on the floor in front of her struggling students. "It's only hard because you're fighting it. Once you get into it, you'll be able to change anytime without thinking about it, but until then you're going to keep having trouble. Maybe you just need to relax a little. After all, you and ferret-boy are probably making each other a little tense just by being in the same room."

"Maybe," Hermione breathed, still upset.

"I don't know about her, maybe she's tense, but I feel perfectly fine," Malfoy spoke sullenly. "And all I can do is grow a bit of stupid hair."

"Look, maybe the two of you just don't know yourselves as well as you think you do. Insecure animagi tend to have problems shifting. Until you get more comfortable with yourselves you're stuck."

"Whatever, I'm getting a headache. I'm going to bed," Malfoy stated, still sullen.

He stormed off to his room and slammed the door behind himself.

"Do you really think that's it?" Hermione asked quietly as she crossed the room to retrieve the pillow she had thrown. "Do you really think I'm insecure?"

"May, I really have no idea," Jule answered seriously. "I've never had any problems with changing, and I've had my bad days too. Of course, my gift's a little different than yours is. I was born able to change, you just have the potential. Until you learn to unlock it, I'm afraid that your insecurities might get in the way. I'd do some serious soul-searching if I was you." Snapping out of her serious state, Jule brightened up. "But who cares about that? Let's have some fun!"

"Jule, its Wednesday. We have classes tomorrow!" Hermione scolded, but she smiled in spite of herself.

"I know that, but come on May, live life on the wild-side for once! I'll bet you've never skipped a single class!"

"I have so, I skipped Potions once!" Hermione said indignantly, still smiling.

"Ah, but I'll bet you had a good reason for it," Jule shot back.

Blushing, Hermione nodded. "Malfoy and Harry were fighting and Malfoy accidentally hit me with a curse that made my front teeth grow. Snape didn't dismiss me, so I just left and went to the hospital wing."

"See? I'm sure that wasn't fun at all!"

"No, but some good did come out of it," Hermione said slyly.

"What might that be?"

"My front teeth were naturally a bit large. When Madame Pomfrey was shrinking them, I let her go a little extra and make them better." She smiled brightly, showing off her perfect teeth. "My parents were furious I'd meddled with them. They're both dentists."

The two girls laughed before setting off out of the Head's common room.

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"So where are we going?" Hermione asked Jule curiously. They had gone back to Gryffindor Tower, and Jule was presently rummaging through her trunk for something suitable to wear.

Hermione looked around the room from her position on Jule's bed. This had once been her bed, given to Jule since Hermione had moved out of the tower. This room brought back memories, not all of them good. Hermione had never been close with any of the other girls, Harry and Ron had been her only real friends, so she had often felt excluded from the late-night conversations amongst the other Gryffindor girls in her year.

"There's a club I've heard about from some of the other girls," Jule answered, still tossing clothing about her impatiently. "It's on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Some of the older students like to sneak out there sometimes to have a good time. Honestly, if you can fly it's so easy to get out of this place! They only patrol the halls, never the skies."

Hermione, who was supposed to be on patrol duty tonight, said nothing. She wanted to have fun for once, and to hell with the rules.

"Aha, there you are, you little minx!" Jule shouted in triumph, lifting her prize for Hermione to see. "This is for you," she said proudly. "Go to the bathroom and put it on, I don't care what you have to say, just go!" She commanded loudly, gesturing towards the door to her right.

Hermione obeyed and, taking the black piece of cloth, hurried towards the bathroom. Quickly changing, she surveyed herself in the mirror and had to gasp. She looked half-way decent! The dress was black and clingy and rather sheer around the stomach from just below her belly-button to barely an inch below the bottom of her breasts. The dress was short and low-cut, so that the tops of her breast were revealed as were her legs up to her mid-thigh. The material appeared to be velvet and felt delicious against her skin.

Exiting the bathroom, Hermione held her hands over her exposed stomach self-consciously and faced Jule. "What do you think?" She asked nervously.

"May, you look great!" Jule yelled excitedly. "Now, we have to do something about your hair and make-up."

With that she forced Hermione into a chair and, pulling out her wand, kneeled in front of her. Closing her eyes, Hermione listened as Jule muttered several incantations and saw several flashes of light through her eye-lids. "There you go, take a look," Jule said, turning Hermione towards a mirror.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly, slightly dreading looking at herself. Then she stopped. She didn't look a thing like herself! Jule had straitened and blackened her hair, although it had several streaks of bright red running through it. Her lips were the same red as her hair as was her eye-shadow and eye-liner. Her tanned skin had been magically bleached somehow until she was as pale as Jule, and her cheeks had been warmed by a little bit of blush. "You have got to teach me some of these spells," she said, staring intently at herself and for once not feeling the urge to stick out her tongue.

"No problem," Jule said, sighing in satisfaction. "Here, put these on then tell me how I look." She handed Hermione a pair of very high plat-formed black shoes before looking into the mirror and muttering spells at herself. Hermione slipped on the shoes then looked at Jule.

"Wow, you look great," Hermione said warmly, and meant it. While Hermione had been in the bathroom Jule had changed as well. Her skirt, which was also black, was even shorter than Hermione's, so that when she turned around Hermione thought that she could glimpse a pair of pink frilly panties. She hadn't even bothered with a sheer top covering her stomach, instead she wore what looked a bit like a bright pink sports bra, except that the straps were thin and made of lace, and the top was trimmed with black lace. Her flat stomach was decorated with a pink, dangling belly-button ring.

"That's cool," Hermione said, pointing at the piercing and rubbing her single-piercing ears longingly, thinking of how her parents would freak if she ever even thought of piercing anything else.

"That's nothing, you should see my nipples," Jule said casually, causing Hermione to shoot her an odd look.

Her make-up was all black, except for her lipstick which was the same pink as her top. Her hair was long, black and curly with pink tips. "Like pink, eh?" Hermione asked, raising one eye-brow.

"Pink is my favorite color," Jule sang, setting the two girls off in a fit of giggles. (A/N: This doesn't make a whole lotta sense unless you've heard the Aerosmith song. Download it, you filthy buggars!) "Alright," Jule calmed herself down. "Now for the interesting part. Do you have a broom?" Hermione just shook her head. "I didn't think so. Don't like to fly, huh?"

"It's not that," Hermione sighed. "I love flying. I used to be afraid, and everybody thinks I still am, but really, a quality broom is just too expensive. As it is, I might make my parents go bankrupt thanks to books. I can't ask for a broom too!"

"I understand," Jule said sympathetically. "My parents are completely useless when it comes to money. I had to work all summer long to get my broom, but at least Gringotts gives me school loans." She drifted off into a gloomy silence. Brightening, she changed the subject. "Oh well, I guess you'll just have to share my broom. Don't worry; it should support the both of us."

"OK," Hermione shrugged.

Jule rummaged through her trunk once again before pulling out a tiny broom. "I shrink it for storage purposes," she explained to Hermione's curious look. Casting another spell, she returned the broom to its usual size. It was a Nimbus 2000, not the newest or the best broom, but still a good one.

"Harry used to have one of those," Hermione said. "Till he fell off it and it crashed into the Whomping Willow. Now he has a Firebolt."

"I know, he told me during one of our, er, encounters." Jule had the grace to blush.

Shrugging, Hermione gestured towards the open window. "Let's get going," she said, suddenly impatient to be off. Jule jumped on the broom and Hermione clambered on behind her.

"Let's blow this Popsicle stand!" Jule yelled, before zooming off out the window with a laugh. Hermione shrieked before clutching at Jule's bare stomach.

"If you were a guy, this might almost be wrong," she yelled in Jule ear over the roar of the wind. Jule just laughed more.

Hermione loved the feeling of flying. It had terrified her as a young girl, but after a while she had given up being afraid. Being afraid was no way to live, and once the fear melted away there was only the rushing exhilaration and the roar of the cold wind as it rushed past her. It was interesting to have such a short skirt on while flying; the cool air felt great against her bare legs.

The flight was over sooner than Hermione would have wished. They set down lightly in front of a large building that was painted all in black. It appeared to be two stories high with no windows. It looked more like a warehouse than a nightclub, really, except for the line of witches and wizards awaiting admittance and the large, muscle-clad bouncer who blocked them.

Casually dismounting, Jule walked up to the bouncer with Hermione trailing behind nervously. "Hey there," Jule said flirtatiously, standing so that her breasts were thrust out towards the bouncer. "You don't think we could get in without waiting in line, do you?" She asked coyly, running one finger up and down his arm. The bouncer smiled faintly before stepping aside and gesturing the two girls in. "Thanks ever so," Jule said, blowing a kiss at him. She led the way inside and handed her broom over to the broom- and cloak-check girl.

Hermione wordlessly followed Jule as she made her way into the crowded club, drinking in her surroundings. The room was high-ceilinged with a small, private loft at the top. The only lighting was created by flashing strobe-lights and the occasional laser. A small stage was set up in one corner where a band was playing loud, throbbing music. Most of the witches and wizards moved to the throbbing base-line, but a few sat at a bar in another corner and nodded their heads. Hermione didn't want to think about what the people in the loft were doing.

"This place is cool," she yelled to Jule, who didn't seem to hear her. Jule made her way over to the bar and sat next to a wizard who looked to be in his early twenties.

"Hey," she said, smiling in a friendly manner. "Wanna buy me and my friend here some drinks?" Hermione sat down next to her.

"Let me think about it," he replied, flirtatious. "What's in it for me?"

"Your choice," Jule responded just as, just as flirtatious as he was.

"I'd love to if your friend there would dance with me," he smiled at Hermione. She observed blankly that he had bad teeth.

"I'm sure she'd love to," Jule said, turning to Hermione. "How 'bout it May?" She asked with a slight inflection in her voice that clearly told Hermione, 'do it or you're buying the drinks.'

"Um, love to," Hermione said. "After that drink of course."

"Excellent!" Jule exclaimed happily. "Barkeep, two whiskey sours." The bartender, also a man, delivered the drinks in record time.

"On my tab, Phil," their new friend said at once.

"Of course, Jack," the bartender said indifferently.

Hermione sipped her drink and looked over at her soon-to-be dance partner. "So," she said awkwardly. "Jack, is it?"

He nodded. "And your friend called you May, right?" He asked, smiling.

Hermione, realizing the stupidity of revealing her name to a stranger nodded. "Yup," she said casually.

"How about that dance now?" Jack asked once Hermione had finished her drink. "Um, sure," she nodded.

Jack took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. It was sweltering here. Hermione could feel the press of other bodies all around her, but the music and her drink helped her forget all about it as she moved with the heavy base. She barely even registered when Jack put his hands on her hips and moved close behind her, she was so engrossed in the moment. Hermione thought she understood a little bit why Jule was such a slut. It was easy to lose yourself in the moment if you just let it happen. Hermione didn't even object when she felt Jack press his whole body against her and she felt something hard press against her ass. She did say something when he started kissing her neck though. His breath was hot and rancid on her skin, and his lips felt slimy and disgusting. Hermione quickly pushed him away.

"Dancing's one thing, Jack," she said curtly. "But kissing's another."

Jack shot her a nasty look. "If you don't want the attention, then you shouldn't dress like that," he said snottily. Hermione gave him the finger before heading back towards Jule.

Jule was busy kissing Phil, the bartender. They weren't exactly snogging, but there was a lot of giggling going on. "Can I get another drink please?" She asked him.

"Certainly!" He cried boisterously. "All drinks are on the house for you and lovely Leela here!"

Hermione shot Jule a look with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and accepting a shot from Phil. "Thanks," she said, downing it. It burned like fire. Gasping, Hermione accepted another. After three shots she felt like dancing some more.

Making her way out onto the floor, Hermione once again became one with the crowd. Losing herself in the music and anonymity, Hermione moved like no one was looked, swinging her hips suggestively and not caring who saw. She felt someone pressing against her back, like Jack had before, but knew that it wasn't him this time. This person was taller and more muscular, and his breath felt cool against her skin, unlike Jacks. She ground her hips into the stranger's and took pleasure in the slight groan she heard. Closing her eyes, she turned around and kissed him, not caring that she didn't know him, wanting to feel the way Jule must when she kissed strangers.

This stranger kissed well, better than Victor Krum had, that was for sure. His breath was minty and cool, and his tongue danced around her mouth, making Hermione's tongue fight back. The two dueled in silence, still moving with the music. Hermione smiled slightly as she felt something pressing against her thigh. After a long time, Hermione drew back to gaze at her mystery kisser.

Her eyes shot open in shock. "Malfoy!" She gasped.

A/N: Mwahahahaha! Review!

Le Preview:

"What do I mean? You just hogged our room for the last three hours so you and Jule," she sneered and practically spat the name, "Could have a nice little lesbian date, didn't you?"


	5. Big Grins and Lesbians

1Reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

Chapter 5: Big Grins and Lesbians

Her eyes shot open in shock. "Malfoy!" She gasped.

Malfoy stared at her with bleary eyes. He had clearly drunk a bit and was disoriented from the kiss. "Have we met?" He asked, obviously quite confused. "I think I would have remembered you."

"Um," Hermione stalled. He didn't recognize her! Well, if Malfoy didn't know that he had been kissing Hermione then Hermione would never have to face the shame of kissing Malfoy. "I don't think so," she lied glibly.

"No, I think we have." Malfoy persisted. "Were you at the ball Mother threw this summer? How would you recognize me if we'd never met before?"

"Er," Hermione bit her lip. "Well, there's no escaping it is there?" She said, thinking quickly. "How many wizards have hair and eyes like that, eh? You must be a Malfoy. You all look alike."

"That is true," Malfoy smiled. "I'm Draco," he said, extending his hand politely.

"Er, May," Hermione smiled weakly, accepting his hand. "Um, sorry, but I have to go now. My friends waiting for me."

And with that she was gone. But what she did not hear was a very confused Draco Malfoy muttering, "Where have I heard that name before?"

Hermione rushed back over to the bar where Jule and Phil were still talking and giggling flirtatiously. "Ju—Leela," Hermione said, tapping Jule's arm frantically. "We need to get out of here, now."

"Not now, May," Jule shrugged her off, still looking at Phil. "Me and Phil are having fun."

"Leela," Hermione ground out. "I just hooked up with Draco Malfoy. I think we need to leave." That got Jule's attention.

"Right, let's go," she said quickly. "Bye Phil, see ya round." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she and Hermione dashed off to retrieve her broom. Getting it quickly, Jule and Hermione raced outside and quickly climbed onto the Nimbus 2000. "Let's get outta here," Jule yelled, kicking them up into the cool night air.

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When they had safely reached Gryffindor Tower again, and after Hermione's ears had stopped roaring, Jule had imperiously sat her down and demanded a full explanation. After she received it though, she wasn't exactly sure how to react.

"Why would you kiss a complete stranger?" She asked slowly.

"This, coming from the Saliva Queen?" Hermione asked sarcastically, struggling to pull Jule's shoes off of her feet.

"Well, yeah," Jule admitted shamelessly. "But that's me. You, you're not that kinda girl."

"Well, maybe I wanted to be," Hermione said, not looking Jule in the eye. "Can you take these spells off me? I want to get back to my room, and if Malfoy's there and sees me like this, well; even he can put two and two together."

"Sure," Jule said mildly. She waved her wand in front of Hermione's face, muttering, "Reventio." Hermione turned around to look in the mirror and saw herself again. She was relieved and disappointed, all at once. Sticking her tongue out at herself, she made towards the bathroom to change back into her school clothes.

When she came back Jule looked as if she hadn't moved a muscle. She stared at Hermione expectantly as Hermione faltered in front of her. "Here's your dress back," she murmured, holding out the garment. "I hope I didn't stretch it out."

"I'm sure you didn't," Jule still didn't move to take the dress. "Why don't you keep it?" Hermione glanced up in shock. "It looks better on you than it ever did on me, and it's too tame for me."

"But everyone could see my stomach!" Hermione cried in surprise. "And it's low cut, and it's really short! You call that tame?"

Jule just shrugged. "I have plenty that are lower cut and plenty that're shorter. Besides, there was still material over your stomach. It was sheer, but I like the feel of the wind against my bare flesh." She smirked devilishly. "Or the feel of bare flesh against my bare flesh."

Hermione blushed slightly. "Thank you," she whispered, running her hands over the soft material. "Maybe this means we can go out again without me stealing your clothes."

"Of course not!" Jule exclaimed, indignant. "Next time we go out I'll make you wear something else of mine! Just try not to look so good next time, I have a lot of clothes but they will run out eventually if I'm forced to keep giving them to you!"

Hermione blushed again. "Thanks," she muttered. "I should go."

"OK," Jule said jovially. "'Night, May."

"Oh yeah," Hermione remembered. "You can't call me that in front of Malfoy anymore. He might notice."

Jule just shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, when you get down to the common room, tell the other girls they can come up. I banished them for the night, said me and you needed the room."

"I'd wondered where they were," Hermione said, smiling. She left and walked contentedly down the stairs.

"Hey," she called to the girls waiting sullenly on the couches. "Jule says you can go up now."

"Have fun, Granger?" Lavender sneered at her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, perplexed. They hadn't told anyone they were going out.

"What do I mean? You just hogged our room for the last three hours so you and Jule," she sneered and practically spat the name, "Could have a nice little lesbian date, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, stunned at the accusation. "Jule and I aren't lesbians; she's spent half the time since she got here making out with boys, Harry being one of them."

"Yeah, and the other half she spent making out with the girls," Parvati put in. "I saw her, in the girl's toilets, making out with that butch girl from Ravenclaw. It's sickening, really, the slut."

"Huh?" Hermione asked, still shocked at the attack. "Look, whatever Jule's sexual orientations, I don't share them. And who are you to judge her, anyway? What difference does it make whether she kisses one person or five, and what difference does their gender make?"

"That's exactly what you'd expect a lezzy to say," Lavender spit, an ugly look on her face. "You know, all those years I wondered when you never had a boyfriend. I guess now I know why."

"I am not a lesbian!" Hermione yelled. "And who would care if I was anyway? It doesn't make any bloody difference!"

"It's against God!" Parvati yelled back.

"Fuck God!" Hermione let out.

There was a shocked silence in the room. Lavender and Parvati stared at Hermione with eyes as round as dinner plates while Hermione wondered at her own audacity.

"How dare you—" Lavender started.

"I dare," Hermione put in coolly, voice like ice, "Because I am Head Girl, and you are not. I dare because I am a much stronger witch than you are. And I dare because I am right and you are wrong. I am not a lesbian, and I don't care if Jule is or isn't. And if I hear of you slandering either one of us again, I will hex you until your ears fall off. And don't think I won't hear; I may be out of your little gossip loop, but that doesn't mean that I don't have other means of gathering information at my disposal."

Lavender had turned white. Without saying a word she turned and stomped up the stairs to where Jule was waiting. Parvati started to follow, but then turned to look at Hermione. Smiling widely, Hermione waved at her and blew her a kiss. Parvati ran to catch up with Lavender.

Grinning widely, Hermione made her way back to the Head's common room. She had just told off Hogwarts' two biggest gossips, a.k.a. bitches, and she had never felt better. In fact, even seeing Malfoy waiting in the common room couldn't put a damper on her mood.

"Where've you been?" He asked coldly, glaring at her as though trying to freeze the grin off her face. "And why are you so happy?"

"Out," Hermione practically sang. "And that's absolutely none of your business."

And with that, Hermione danced into her room and slammed the door behind her.

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Draco was confused. More confused, in fact, than he had been in years. The whole night had been a disaster and there had been nothing he could do about it. It had started with dinner, where something in the food had upset his stomach and made him almost puke in Pansy's pug-like face. Then, he had learned that his animagus lessons were to be held with the two Gryffindor mudblood bitches. Hell, one of them had been teaching the damn class!

Then had been all the bickering with Granger. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy a good argument; it was just that Granger was much better at it than he was. They had both resorted to childish insults in the end, but he had had the unpleasantly distinct feeling that she had been the winner. And it had given him a horrible headache.

And that was the best part of the lesson too. The thing had dragged on for ages and all he had done was grow a little fur. He wanted to change all the way, dammit, not enough to have a crappy Halloween costume. He wanted to change completely, to howl at the moon and race gracefully through the forest. He wanted power.

But the lesson had gone badly and there was nothing he could do about it for the time being. It had set him on edge though, so in order to relieve that tension he had gone out clubbing. But not even the small, unnamed club on the outskirts of Hogsmeade had kept his interest long. It seemed that nothing could lately. That is, until he saw her.

A mysterious girl he had never seen there before, but recognized from somewhere, although he was damned if he knew where. She was… beautiful. Not in a classic, Malfoy way of course. To be beautiful in the Malfoy sense would have been pale gray eyes, sickeningly pale skin, and pale blond hair. Pale, pale, pale. But not this girl. She had the pale skin of course, but he doubted it was natural. It hadn't really suited her; nothing else about her had been that dull. Her hair was black and red, her eyes were chocolaty brown, and her dress was black. And even though her appearance held more black and white than red, he knew that that was the color that suited her best.

Her face had been alive, more alive than any Malfoy beauty. Her make-up was red, fiery, like the way she danced. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were pink from dancing and excitement and a love of life that shone clearly through her face. And her ruby lips had been so soft, so delicious… When he kissed her she tasted like cinnamon.

And now here Draco was, alone in his common room, just back after the beautiful stranger named May had left him. She had run away from him shortly after realizing who he was, but had left him with nothing but a first name, and although he had searched for her, it had all been in vain. She had disappeared. It was almost like Cinderella, he mused, except sexier, and with more spit-swapping. So, he had left the club, sick of the place after that.

Just as Draco was considering putting his tortured brain out of its misery and succumbing to sleep, Granger walked through the door, looking flushed and happy, and wearing a ridiculously large grin on her face.

"Where've you been?" He asked coldly, glaring at her as though trying to freeze the grin off her face. "And why are you so happy?"

"Out," the mudblood practically sang. "And that's absolutely none of your business."

She pranced into her room and slammed the door behind her.

"Bloody twit," Draco muttered before stomping into his own room and flopping down on the bed.

A/N: Lalalalalalala… Getting interesting, isn't it?

PREVIEW:

"Now, to your great disappointment, I am sure," Snape said silkily, smirking ever so slightly. "You will not be permitted to choose your own partners. They will be assigned to you as follows." The entire class, on both sides, groaned. Snape never assigned partners fairly. "Bulstrode, Patil; Crabbe, Potter; Goyle, Thomas; Malfoy, Granger," the list went on, but Hermione wasn't listening.


	6. Potions Assignments of Doom

1**IF YOU WERE OFFENDED BY MY GOD STATEMENT, READ THIS! **I don't hate God. I do not run around saying "Fuck God." My story is not anti-God. My story is anti-homophobe. I'm sorry if I offended you with what I wrote, but it was only because Hermione was pissed off and was trying to illustrate her point. Don't hate me!

Chapter 6: Potions Assignments of Doom

One week later and it was yet another wonderful Wednesday. Hermione had spent the last week avoiding Lavender, Parvati, and Malfoy, but had had little luck. Many of her classes were with the two Gryffindor Gossips and Malfoy was her roommate. The only thing that held Hermione together was the knowledge that she was better than they were.

Hermione really did feel kind of bad about what she had said to Lavender and Parvati though. Any remorse she felt towards Malfoy was simply horror and irritation at her own stupidity, but she did feel guilty about her "Fuck God!" comment. She didn't really feel that way. In fact, generally Hermione was pretty neutral when it came to God. Her family was Christian, but not particularly religious. They rarely went to church for anything other than major holidays or funerals (more of the former than the latter, thank goodness.) In fact, the last time Hermione had been to church had been years ago; she was rarely home for Christmas anymore.

But the fact of the matter was that Hermione really didn't have any right to say something that bad about God. She wasn't afraid that some great hand in the sky was going to chuck a lightning bolt at her or anything like that, but she did realize that many people were extremely sensitive about religion. And she could respect that; really she could, just as long as those people remembered their place.

In Hermione's philosophy, religion was all well and good, but nothing good could come of using religion as an excuse to hate. After all, isn't religion about brotherly love, or whatever? If that were true, why should religious people think that they could justify ridiculous prejudice with their religion?

After much pondering Hermione decided that she should feel guilty, but not too guilty. Maybe a heartfelt apology was owed to Lavender and Parvati about her blasphemy, but not about her outrage at their homophobic viewpoints. She would not support hatred of that or any other kind, because, really, all prejudice is the same and hating gay people was on the same level as hating a person because she was muggleborn, which Hermione definitely related to.

So, on Wednesday morning Hermione swallowed her pride and warily approached Lavender and Parvati at breakfast.

"Good morning, Parvati," she started awkwardly. "Lavender."

"What do you want, Oh Great Head Girl?" Lavender asked sarcastically, refusing to meet Hermione's eyes.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said," she said slowly, trying to keep her teeth from grinding. "I didn't mean to offend your religious sensibilities."

"Whatever, lezzy," Parvati retorted before the two girls walked off, rather rudely in Hermione's opinion.

Hermione rolled her eyes and then, checking to see that no teachers were watching her, cast a quick hex after the retreating girls. It would take several long, painfully funny moments before the two realized that the reason people were pointing and laughing was the two bushy tails that had sprouted from their rears. After those moments had passed and the Gryffindor girls had noticed their tails they had tried to cover them up, which made the other students laugh louder, before they decided that the best thing to do was to sprint out of the Great Hall and strait to Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione drank her juice and munched her toast happily, never noticing the thoughtful gray eyes that were carefully appraising her from across the hall.

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The morning's classes passed by quickly. Hermione didn't learn anything that she hadn't already memorized from her text books but still enjoyed the points she earned for Gryffindor by giving correct answers to every question that came her way. Lunch was spent in the Library, avoiding her classmates once more. They had been to none of the morning classes she had with them, but she figured that they should have recovered by lunch time and that they would choose to pick another fight with her. So, she spent lunch brushing up on her knowledge of deadly poisons; double Potions with the Slytherins was next.

Hermione strode into the dungeons a moment before Snape did. He frowned slightly, seeing that he had missed the opportunity to punish a Gryffindor for her lateness. Poor Snape had had a real disappointment this year; not only was the horrible Harry Potter in his class, but also the irritating know-it-all. Jule was there as well, but as yet he had not found any specific reason to hate her. The only other Gryffindors in the class were Dean Thomas and Parvati Patil. Neville had given up, and Hermione was certain the Snape thanked whatever god he worshiped every day for that.

The class was small and mostly Slytherin. The five Gryffindors were rather nervous about the numbers against them. Almost every seventh year Slytherin was in the class (Pansy Parkinson was the only one who was not.) But their Gryffindor bravery held them together and kept their backs strait despite the disparaging remarks, ugly looks, and pranks. There had been one prank so far, where some unnamed Slytherin had slipped something into a Gryffindor cauldron, causing it to explode, but they had only been there for a little over a week; Hermione knew that more such pranks were coming.

"Now class," Snape spoke slowly in little more than a whisper, glaring angrily at the Gryffindor side of the room. "Today we will be beginning a big project. It will count for one half of your grade this term. It will be handed in on the last day of class before the Christmas vacation, so I suggest that you work hard on it." He looked around the room, pausing dramatically. "Some of you may think that because you have half of the school year to work on this project you can just wait until the last minute and then hand it in. Wrong. This is a very complex, dangerous potion, and you will work on the project in class only, under my supervision." Again he glared at them dramatically.

"Drama-queen," Jule whispered in Hermione's ear. Hermione struggled not to laugh right in Snape's face; somehow she doubted that he would take it well.

"Alright then," Snape said after he had waited long enough for them to realize just how serious he was. "The name of the potion that you shall be brewing is called Resistenza. It is a potion created to increase the drinker's strength. What makes this potion so difficult and fascinating is that depending on one or two ingredients the potion will affect the drinker differently. If, for example, the shavings of a dragon scale are used the drinker will become stronger physically. Likewise unicorn hair will affect magical strength and sphinx saliva affects intelligence. You will be divided into different groups and assigned different ingredients to create several variations of the potion."

The students glanced at each other, some nervously, others curiously. The students, including Hermione, who had already researched the potion, were nervous. The other students, who had no idea what the big deal was, were staring at their counterparts in confusion. What Hermione knew was that Resistenza had the potential for either great good or great evil, depending on which ingredients it was made with and by whom it was created. It was also an incredibly complex and difficult potion to brew.

"Now, to your great disappointment, I am sure," Snape said silkily, smirking ever so slightly. "You will not be permitted to choose your own partners. They will be assigned to you as follows." The entire class, on both sides, groaned. Snape never assigned partners fairly. "Bulstrode, Patil; Crabbe, Potter; Goyle, Thomas; Malfoy, Granger," the list went on, but Hermione wasn't listening.

Malfoy, she was supposed to be working with Malfoy? It wasn't enough that she had to live with him, or even enough that she had to take animagus lessons with him, but now she also had to work with him?

But, of course, what bothered her most were the memories being in his presence brought up. She was embarrassed that she had kissed a complete stranger and more embarrassed still that that stranger had turned out to be Malfoy. Avoiding him all week had made it easier to avoid thinking about the way his body had felt pressed against hers, the way he had tasted and what a damn good kisser he had been.

Hermione sighed and stared up at Snape only to realize that he had finished the pairings. Jule had moved away from her seat next to Hermione and was sitting next to Blaise Zabini. It seemed that all of the Gryffindors had been paired with Slytherins, although some of the Slytherins were paired together due to their greater numbers.

Hermione glanced around and saw that everyone was sitting with their assigned partners except for her and Malfoy, who sat at the very back of the formerly Slytherin side of the room. They stared blankly at one another for several moments, both expecting the other to come and sit next to them, both refusing to demean themselves by moving. Hermione rolled her eyes and snorted before pulling her Potions textbook out of her bag and starting to read. Malfoy smirked and raised his hand.

"What is it Mr. Malfoy?" Snape asked irritably from his desk where he was shuffling the assignment papers.

"Professor, Granger is refusing to come sit next to me so that we can work together." Malfoy whined.

"Granger, go sit with Malfoy." Snape said smoothly without even glancing up.

"Excuse me sir, but I thought that my desk would be better considering how it's much closer to the board." Hermione protested.

"Granger you're not going to be taking notes during this class, so get to the back of the room with Malfoy this instant!" Snape hissed at her.

Hermione looked down in embarrassment as the class laughed at her. She slowly gathered her things and walked up the aisle towards the back of the room. As she passed Jule where she was seated next to Zabini Jule gave her a wink and made kissing motions at her. Hermione hissed at her to shut up before continuing her walk of shame.

By the time she was sitting next to Malfoy the class had gotten over their little joke and Malfoy was smirking in a very satisfied, ferrety kind of way. "Shut it, Malfoy, nobody cares." Hermione ground out at him. Looking forward she saw Jule and Blaise hunched over a textbook, Blaise's arm around Jule's shoulders. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes at what a whore her new friend could be.

"Now, now Granger, just because you didn't get to work with your little girlfriend doesn't mean that you have to take it out on me." Malfoy drawled, staring at Hermione intently. "Besides, it looks like she's having a perfectly wonderful time with Blaise. I doubt she even misses you."

"Not that I care what you think," Hermione turned to face Malfoy. "But what makes you think that Jule's my girlfriend?"

"That's what everyone's been saying," Malfoy said, inspecting his nails.

Hermione ground her teeth. "Well, it's not true. We aren't girlfriends, hell we aren't even lesbians! Well, at least I'm not, Jule may be." She ended on a slightly confused note.

"Yeah, yeah, no ones listening," Malfoy said lazily, still inspecting his nails.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something else but stopped herself. Malfoy wasn't worth that much energy.

Moments later Snape snapped at Blaise and Jule to get off each other and for Jule to hand out the assignments. Jule fixed the top button of her shirt before walking to the front of the classroom. She practically skipped as she handed out the pieces of parchments to the designated students before finally prancing back to her seat.

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled in amusement at Jules antics before glancing at her and Malfoy's assignment. Above the list of ingredients and the instructions on how to make the potion was a short message from Snape.

"Considering that the two of you are the Head-boy and –girl, I have decided that you're assignment will be a bit more complex than the rest of the class. As you may have noticed in your list of ingredients you are required to use the shavings of a dragon's scale, unicorn hair, and sphinx saliva. In addition to these three you will be required to research a fourth ingredient, predict what affects it may have on the potion and then prove your hypothesis. Good luck."

Hermione drew in a large sigh. "Figures Snape'd give us the most work."

"What's wrong Granger; don't think you can handle it?" Malfoy sneered. "Well, just don't expect me to do all the work for you."

"Likewise."

"Oh, just shut up so we can get to work."

"You're the one who's still talking."

"Who's still talking now?"

"You are."

Malfoy's mouth opened and closed several times before he closed it firmly and went to the supply cupboard to gather their ingredients. Hermione snickered quietly.

TBC...

Preview:

"May, dearest, your breasts are one of your most attractive features. Use them well."


	7. Rum, Coke and Moshing

1Thanks for the reviews! For people who flame, or inform me that I'm not worth the time to flame, whatever. They judge my story by the first chapter, which is incredibly stupid. Anyway, I have realized that they aren't worth my time, so there.

Chapter 7: Rum, Coke and Moshing

Hermione and Malfoy worked speaking to one another as little as possible. At one point Malfoy even took to writing requests on a piece of parchment, but Hermione punched him in the arm so he stopped rather quickly. The day passed quickly, as schooldays tended to for Hermione, and before she knew it she was at her animagus lesson with Malfoy and Jule.

Jule came waltzing into the room five minutes late, pulled Hermione from her chair, and made her dance with her by force. "Hermione, dear, what a pleasure to see you!" She exclaimed as they twirled about the room, Jule's scarlet hair streaming behind them.

"You're late," Malfoy said sourly, glaring at the laughing girls. "I have places to be tonight, so can you hurry it up and get this over with?"

"All right children, settle down now," Jule said pseudo-seriously as she shoved Hermione back into her chair. "I showed you what you need to do to change last week, so just do the same damn thing for another half an hour and we'll all be on our way."

"Last week the lesson was an hour long," Malfoy pointed out quickly.

"Malfoy, do you want to leave soon or not?" Jule said slowly, as though she were speaking to a rather special child. "Hermione and I have places to be as well, so I decided that half an hour is enough time to give the two of you to sit around, sprout some hair, not quite turn into your animal forms, and throw things about and curse." She had said it all in one breath and was panting by the time she was finished.

"Whatever, don't get your panties in a twist," Malfoy lifted his hands in surrender.

"Nice," Hermione said coolly.

"What'd I say?"

"Do you really need me to explain it to you or would you like some nice diagrams as well?"

"Huh?"

"Good comeback, you spend much time thinking of it?"

"Well, at least I'm not some stupid bitch like you!"

"Another winner."

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Children, children, please settle down before I open a can of whoop-ass on the two of you!" They both stared blankly at Jule. "What?" She asked innocently.

"Maybe we should just get to work," Hermione suggested to Malfoy.

"Yes, I really think we should," he replied.

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After another unsatisfying practice session, during which Hermione managed to sprout a tail and Malfoy's teeth grew longer and sharper, Hermione and Jule decided to go back to the un-named club.

This time they agreed to get ready in Hermione's room so as not to annoy the other Gryffindor girls again, so Jule ran to her room, got some clothing, and then brought it back to Hermione.

The outfit Jule had chosen for Hermione that night was rather different than the one from the week before. The skirt was long, black and flowy, reaching down to the ground and trailing pleasingly behind Hermione. The shirt was a black, velvet corset with a plunging neckline that laced up the front, zipped up the back, and had frilly black lace along the neckline and the bottom.

Jule gave her a pair of black, steel-toed boots that reached half way up her calf saying, "Keep them, I made them especially for you," which made Hermione look closer at them and notice that little roaring lionesses surmounted the top of the tongue of each.

"I don't know what to say," Hermione said, not really knowing how to respond to a gift like that. "It's a rather odd gift, don't you think?"

"Not at all," Jule said casually, pulling on an identical pair that had, instead of lionesses, bats at the top of each tongue. "I believe that every girl should have a pair of steel-toed boots. They're great weapons for when a guy corners you and they protect your toes when you mosh."

"Mosh?"

"You'll figure it out."

So Hermione shrugged, pulled the shoes on under the skirt, and inspected herself in the mirror. She looked allright, she guessed, but her neckline made her nervous and her face still looked too much like it usually did to make her very happy.

"Are you sure about this top?" She asked, covering the exposed tops of her breasts with her hands.

"May, dearest, your breasts are one of your most attractive features. Use them well."

"Um, thanks?" Hermione didn't know how to respond to something like that either.

Jule wore a skin-tight black vinyl dress that zipped up the back and had a neckline to rival Hermione's. The bottom of the dress didn't quite reach mid-thigh, and when she bent over to retrieve her wand, which she had dropped, Hermione caught a glance of a pink thong before quickly looking away.

"So," Jule said, aiming her wand at Hermione. "How do you wanna look tonight?"

"Can't you just make me look the same as the other night?" Hermione asked nervously.

"But that's so boring!" Jule pouted. "Don't you want to try new and interesting things? Come on, live a little!"

"Well, alright." Hermione thought about. "Just do what you want to. You have better taste in this kind of stuff than I do anyway."

"Just what I wanted to hear!" Jule exclaimed happily.

She shot some rapid fire spells at Hermione that she didn't quite understand and then turned her towards a mirror saying, "Check it out!"

Hermione's hair was longer than usual. Much longer in fact. It reached down to her butt and was black shot through with gold that actually seemed to glitter. Her eyes were outlined in black and golden glitter accentuated her eyebrows and cheeks. Her lips were as gold as galleons and glittered like the rest of her face. Her skin had once again been magically bleached, although she wasn't as pale as last time and still had the faintest hint of a tan which set off the gold nicely.

"Nice." Was all the stunned girl could say.

"I thought you might like it," Jule said smugly.

Jule stayed the same as she had been all day: scarlet hair, eyelids, and lips. Hermione thought she looked a little like she had been bathing in blood for some reason.

Once again they flew away from Hogwarts and out over Hogsmeade towards the edge of town. Hermione's long skirt billowed behind them and she laughed out loud in exhilaration.

Again the bouncer let them pass with a few words from Jule that promised at much more if he kept this treatment up. They left the broom at the broom check and headed straight for the dance floor. Hermione quickly hiked her long skirt up to keep it from getting stepped on. A live band performed on the small stage in the corner and the music shot through Hermione like a drug, making her shake her hips and toss her head like everyone else, losing herself in the crowd. When another body banged into her she automatically banged back and was assaulted by more shoving. Her feet were stepped on and she felt bruises forming as she and the other dancers thrashed against one another. She was so lost in the beautiful violence that she almost tried to hurt Jule when she was pulled roughly from the crowd.

"And that, my good friend, was moshing," Jule proclaimed proudly. "Ah, my sweet little May survived her first mosh pit. I'm just so damn proud."

Hermione could only nod and pant. Without the adrenaline of the constant fight to stay alive in the mosh pit she felt suddenly exhausted. "Can we get something to drink?" She asked.

"But of course."

Phil the bartender was once again on duty, so after a few playful kisses 'May' and 'Leela' were set with a rum and coke each. Hermione downed the sweet drink and sat for a moment, already feeling her energy returning. The night was young and so was she and she wanted to dance.

With a quick farewell to Jule and Phil Hermione rushed back on to the dance floor. Things had calmed down a bit, so although people were still dancing and the music was still pounding the mosh pit had died. Hermione was only disappointed for a moment as she rushed towards the stage and danced directly in front of it.

There were three wizards on stage playing drums, a guitar and a bass and one witch who sang into a mike. The music flowed over and through Hermione, blinding and deafening her to the world and all her troubles. The band played several more songs while Hermione danced right in front of them but after a while they grew tired and took a break. More music immediately flooded the club as they headed off the stage, even though Hermione didn't see a DJ or any speakers anywhere.

Hermione headed back towards the bar and was given another rum and coke. She barely even noticed when a young wizard sat beside her. "Can I buy you another drink?" He asked politely.

Hermione looked at him. He was the wizard who had been playing the guitar. He appeared to be a few years older than she was and he had brown hair and eyes and a sweet smile. "Certainly," Hermione smiled back, trying to imitate Jule's flirtatiousness.

She finished her drink and he bought her another one. She didn't feel like admitting to him that all her drinks were already free and that he was just wasting his money; she felt too flattered.

"My name's Tom," he said as he watched her sip her new drink.

"I'm May."

"I saw you dancing by the stage," he continued. "You're the most beautiful woman here."

Hermione knew that was a lie. There were plenty of prettier girls than she in the club, Jule being one of them. But she blushed nonetheless and smiled sweetly nonetheless and accepted his blatantly false flattery.

"I would ask you to dance, but me and me mates are about to do another set in a minute or two," Tom explained regretfully.

"Well, maybe some other time then," Hermione said.

But at that moment the young witch who had been singing stormed up to Tom, obviously rather drunk. "That's it!" She shrieked. "I won't take any more of this crap!"

"What's wrong this time Shayla?" Tom asked slowly.

"I just saw that fucking bitch Alex making out with some little whore!" She yelled, drunken eyes glazed with fury. "I told him last time that if he cheated on me again I would kill him and he did it anyway! So that's it, I've had enough; you can find yourselves a new singer!" And she stormed out of the club.

"Excuse me," Tom said, marching angrily over to the nearby bass-player, another young wizard who looked to be about the same age as Tom himself. "What did I tell you about dating the chicks in the band!" Hermione heard him yell. "That's the third one we've lost because of you!"

"I can't help it if monogamy's impossible for me," Alex replied defensively.

"If you can't stick to one chick then don't fuck the one in the band! Go find some groupies for God's sake!" And Tom moved towards the stage. "I have an announcement to make," he said into the mike as soon as the music had stopped. "There will be no more live playing tonight as our lead singer just quit the band. We will be holding auditions here on Saturday morning and until then there will be no more live music."

The crowd groaned but as soon as the music started again they danced like nothing had even happened.

Hermione spent the rest of the night alternately dancing and drinking at the bar. She really rather liked rum and coke; it was a lot better than a whiskey sour. At one in the morning an inebriated Hermione flew back to the castle on the back of Jule's broomstick where she was rather noisily sick in the Head Girl's bathroom.

TBC……

Preview for next time:

"You know how that singer quit the band at the club?" Hermione nodded mutely. "Well, there's an audition to replace her today and I think you're gonna be the lucky lady who gets the job."


	8. Singing Under The Stars

1Chapter 8: Singing Under the Stars

Draco arrived back at the Head Dormitory at about 3 in the morning. On the way to his bedroom he noticed that Granger's door was slightly ajar. Peeking in he saw that both she and the American girl were asleep on her bed. Momentarily forgetting his ire, Draco chuckled to himself before remembering why he was so mad and stalking off to his room.

Draco's bedroom had been completely bare when he first saw it, containing only a bed, a chair, a book-shelf, and an armoire. He had made the furniture a deep, almost black, brown, the walls were black, the coverlet and sheets were dark green and the pillows were silver; Draco's only tribute to House pride. He had put thick black rugs on the floor and heavy black curtains over the window.

Draco's room was really rather plain. Almost everything was black and he didn't decorate the room with any portraits or hangings of any kind. However, when he was bored or angry, Draco did what he had done in his room at home. Using chalk he drew on his blank black walls; sometimes he drew pictures other times he wrote angry words. Generally he would assault the wall with self-expression only to erase everything a moment later, leaving the wall blank and uncaring.

That morning Draco attacked the wall with his window in it almost before the door had swung closed. At first he was writing out a tirade against Pansy Parkinson and all slutty Slytherin girls in general, but after only a few words it had evolved into what a woman should be. Then, before he knew it, he was sketching a portrait. At first, as was often the case, Draco wasn't completely sure what it was that he was drawing, but he quickly realized the chalk woman staring back at him from his wall was May, the mysterious girl he had met at the club and never found again.

Draco had started the previous evening with intentions to go to the club and see if he could find the girl. He had gone every night and had figured that he would be even more likely to find her on a Wednesday, the same night he had first seen her. It was hard to believe he had been obsessed with May for only a week. For some reason Draco felt he had known her for years, instead of just a few moments of dancing and one heated kiss.

Unfortunately Draco's plans had not worked out. Right after the animagus lesson had ended he had received an owl from Pansy saying that she was desperate; she had spent hours trying to do her homework but was still lost. Draco hadn't suspected anything to be off about her story; after all, Pansy was rather stupid. With a heavy heart, Draco had accepted his duty as Head Boy and second-best in their year and gone to help Pansy, hoping that he could get it over with quickly and then go to the club.

He had not been able to help Pansy finish her homework in a timely fashion. They had spent several hours in the Slytherin common room while Draco had repeated the same, simple explanations over and over again. Looking back Draco realized that he should have guessed that Pansy was up to something; she was stupid, but not that stupid. Finally, at a quarter to three, the last seventh years cleared out of the common room and went to bed. They had tried to be cool by staying up the latest, but even they knew that it was stupid to stay up too late on a school night. Once they were completely alone Pansy had propositioned Draco. Well, that's putting it politely. She had pulled her shirt off and tried to kiss him.

Back in sixth year Draco would have had no problem sleeping with Pansy. In fact, he had done just that several times. But by the time he had reached his seventh year at Hogwarts, Draco had learned quite well that Pansy tended to sleep with a lot of people, and that wasn't really to his taste. So, Draco was irritated and disgusted that Pansy was trying to sleep with him now. Who knew what kinds of diseases that girl could be carrying!

Draco had stormed out of the dungeons and back to his room where he now stood staring at May's drawing. Draco was stunned he could make something so good; he never had before. Erasing the words he had written, Draco kept the picture. He removed his pants and shirt until all he wore were a pair of black, silk boxers (A/N: they're always black silk, aren't they. One of these days I'm going to make them white with a smiley face on the ass, just you wait and see!) and lay down in his bed in a way that he could still see the picture he had drawn. He fell asleep with the image implanted in his mind.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hermione awoke on Thursday with a splitting headache, a very delicate stomach, and an unbearably dry mouth. She stumbled into the bathroom and dry-puked into the toilet for several moments until she realized she had nothing left to barf. She swallowed several aspirins and drank about three glasses of water before bothering to look into the mirror. Gasping in horror she realized that she looked the same as she had the night before! Albeit, her hair was rumpled and she had a decidedly greenish cast to her skin, but she still looked like May!

Running back into her bedroom Hermione saw Jule lying in her bed and shook her violently.

"Ungh," Jule groaned as Hermione desperately tried to wake her up. They had gotten back to the castle rather drunk and had both fallen asleep in their clothes in Hermione's bed.

"Jule! Wake up, you've gotta tell me how to get rid of you're spell!" Hermione yelled urgently. She had to get ready for school and she couldn't go parading about like this!

"Reventio," Jule mumbled, turning over and refusing to get out of bed.

Grabbing her wand off her bedside table Hermione recited the spell and watched with relief as her skin and hair returned to normal. But she still looked rather sick.

Hermione took a cold shower and got herself dressed before trying to wake Jule up again. By the time she was ready to give it another go Jule had awoken of her own accord and was staring blearily around her.

"Hermione," she asked dazedly. "Why am I in your room?"

"We were drunk and we fell asleep in here," Hermione explained, rubbing her pounding temple.

"Oh," Jule said, still kind of out of it. "I was afraid we'd hooked up or something. I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship, you know."

"No Jule," Hermione said, exasperated. "We did not hook up. Nor will we ever hook up, in all likely-hood."

"Well, that's good."

Hermione rolled her eyes, gave Jule a spare uniform, and shoved her into the bathroom. By the time Jule came back out she was her usual self. She had altered Hermione's uniform so that it was, in the appropriate places, shorter, lower, and tighter. Her hair, which was black, fell down her back in long, gentle curls. Her make-up was plainer that usual for her: black eye make-up and red lipstick.

"Morning!" She smiled brightly, her high-pitched chipper voice sending a shock of pain through Hermione's aching head.

"Ow. How are you not feeling as badly as I am?" Hermione demanded crossly.

Jule rummaged through a hidden pocket on the inside of her dress from the night before and pulled out a tiny vial. "Pour one drop on your tongue and you'll feel fine," she handed the vial to Hermione. "In fact, I modified this version so it'll give you a little something extra."

Hermione poured the drop on her tongue and instantly felt better. The kick hit her after only a moment and she smiled deliriously. "What's in this?" Hermione was feeling much better than she usually did.

"It's an anti-hangover potion. The kick I added is the potions equivalent of marijuana." Jule smiled happily.

"I feel like I'm on a roller-coaster."

"That'll happen. Don't worry, it wears off fast."

The two girls spent about five minutes giggling in Hermione's room before setting off towards the Great Hall. Hermione felt herself coming down as soon as she left the Head common room, and was completely sober by the time they reached the Great Hall. She wished she wasn't.

Upon entering together Hermione and Jule were greeted with a combination of shocked silence and cruel snickering. The latter came mostly from the Slytherin table.

"What's up?" Hermione asked as casually as she could, sitting next to Harry and across from Ron.

"Malfoy came in a few minutes ago and said that you and Jule slept together." Ron said shortly, staring at Hermione speculatively. "Is it true?"

"Do you want it to be?" Hermione asked, slightly sickened by Ron's obvious interest in the idea. Ron just shrugged. "Well, technically we did, in the sense that we both fell asleep in my room," Hermione began cautiously. "But nothing like _that_ happened." She glared across the hall to where Malfoy was still giggling with his cohorts.

"Why did you fall asleep?" Ron asked, not quite believing her.

"Because, Ronald," Jule said from her seat next to him. "We were dead drunk."

"What!" Both Harry and Ron yelled.

"Oh God," Hermione moaned, putting her face in her hands.

"I thought you hated God," came a snarky voice from behind Hermione. Praying that it wasn't who she already knew it was Hermione turned to face Lavender and Parvati. "Hey," she said, trying to smile weakly.

"'Hey' indeed lezzy," Lavender smirked. "We heard all about you and your girlfriend."

Hermione sighed. Before she could muster the strength to fight the two idiots Jule intervened. "You know," she said casually. "It's easy to just call someone a lesbian and feel superior, isn't it? Well, I think I should correct you, just to keep the record straight. You may call neither of us lesbians. Hermione is straight and I myself am bi-sexual. The worst you could accuse either of us of being is sluts, and even that doesn't really apply to Hermione that much. And if you insist on calling us derogatory, homophobic names, please come up with something more insulting than 'lezzy'. Haven't you ever heard the word 'dyke'? I think it's a much better insult than lezzy."

There wasn't really much that the two Gryffindor girls could say to that, so they stormed off.

Hermione spent the rest of Thursday and Friday trying to ignore the whispers that followed her wherever she went. She couldn't quite understand this sudden bought of homophobic activity. She had never really noticed any strong feelings one way or the other about homosexuals in the wizarding world and wasn't very happy with what she found.

Even knowing that the rumors that she herself was a lesbian were untrue, Hermione was outraged by the negativity towards her and Jule. Hermione had always thought that gay people were the same as straight people and that it didn't really make a difference either way.

It was with great relief that Hermione packed up her books after the last class of the day on Friday. The weekend might give her some respite from the rumors of her fellow students. After dinner Hermione and Jule went for a walk around the lake. Jule hadn't spent as much time as Hermione had on the grounds at Hogwarts and was still entranced by them.

"I like it here," she said, collapsing into the grass by the lake. Hermione lay down next to her. "I love being able to see the stars." She sighed, gazing heavenward.

"You can see the stars in the Great Hall," Hermione said indifferently.

"It's not the same."

The two girls lay in silence for a while, and Hermione caught herself appreciating the stars as well. Without thinking about it Hermione began to sing under her breath. The notes of the song were long, wavering, and hauntingly pure at times. Her voice throbbed richly with feeling on the lower notes and soared sweetly on the higher ones.

"Two big babies met

On a winter's day

They thought

They'd get

All dressed up to play

So they went outside

Never to return

They run

They hide

Babies never learn

But they cry

And they cry

Who said babies never die?

They cry

Who said babies never die?"

At first she sang quietly, but by the time she was half-way through the song Hermione found herself singing as loudly as she could, projecting out towards the uncaring sky.

"One pushed the other down

Into the salty snow

He looked

Around

No one would ever know

Bad things happen to

Babies all the time

They laugh

At who

Kisses them times nine

But they cry

And they cry

Who said babies never die?

They cry

Who said babies never die?

Two big babies met

On a winter's day

They thought

They'd get

All dressed up

To play."

When she stopped singing the silence rang about them.

"You have a really good voice," Jule said softly, trying not to break the strange mood the sad song had set upon them.

"Thank you," Hermione said, shocked as Jule was at her daring. "I used to sing at my church when I was little."

They were silent for a time, still staring solemnly at the stars. Eventually they went back to the castle and retired to their separate rooms, still in a rather mellow mood.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hermione had planned to sleep late on Saturday but her slumber was disrupted when Jule bounced onto her bed.

"Ahh!" Hermione yelled, sitting up with a start. "What the hell are you doing?" She yelled.

"We have someplace to be," Jule said mysteriously. She pulled Hermione out of bed and shoved her into the shower where she left Hermione to fend for herself.

Ten minutes later Hermione emerged from the shower wrapped in a towel and still dripping but much more alert. "What's going on? Where are we going?" She demanded as Jule handed her articles of clothing that she didn't even glance at.

"You know how that singer quit the band at the club?" Hermione nodded mutely. "Well, there's an audition to replace her today and I think you're gonna be the lucky lady who gets the job."

"No," Hermione stated flatly.

"Yes," Jule answered just as flatly.

"I can't sing in front of people like that!" Hermione was getting desperate. "I'll die!"

"Of course you won't," Jule said, waving off any further protests. "And it won't be you singing in front of all those people, it'll be May. And May has a great voice and knows it, so I don't know why you're so nervous."

Hermione continued to fight even as she put on the clothing Jule had handed to her. She knew it was hopeless and that she would give in eventually, but she fought nonetheless. Finally, Hermione was completely dressed and had lost the will to argue.

Today's Jule-picked outfit was pretty nice. Hermione wore the boots Jule had given her, fishnet stockings, a black skirt that reached down to her knees and a black corset-type top trimmed in dark purple. The corset wasn't even as low cut as the other one had been.

"Jule, this is nice stuff," Hermione had to admit. "I think it suits me better than some of the other things you've had me wear."

"I know; I designed them with you in mind."

"You made these?"

"Yup. Same way I made your boots. I took scraps of the required materials and transfigured them into clothing." Jule explained.

"Wow, these are great designs. You should be a clothing designer." Hermione turned to look at her back in the mirror.

"That's the plan." Jule replied. "I make a lot of my clothes. This transfiguration is pretty efficient and the spell's simple enough, but it saps my energy. Plus I do have to get all the materials I'd be using, even if in smaller amounts, so it does cost some money."

"Thank you," Hermione looked at Jule. "I don't know what to say."

"Hey, this is just to get you into the band so I can mooch off of your band coolness," Jule grinned at her. "Now, let me do your face." She reached for her wand.

"Wait," Hermione held up a hand. "Do that once we get out of Hogwarts. I don't want anyone to see my like that."

Jule shrugged. "Hey, it's up to you."

Hermione wrapped herself in her cloak to hide her clothing and they left the Head's dormitory. Seventh years were allowed to leave school grounds every other weekend, so this time Hermione and Jule weren't breaking any rules when they walked through the gate in broad daylight. They followed the path down to Hogsmeade until they turned a corner and could no longer be seen from Hogwarts. Then Jule pulled out her wand and, speaking clearly for once so that Hermione could learn the spells, made Hermione beautiful.

Rather than let Jule bleach her skin again, Hermione had her leave it tan. She wanted to look exotic for her audition. Her hair was made dark, long, and wavy. Hermione's lips were a dark red and her eyes were outlined heavily in black.

"I should try this look some time," Jule said thoughtfully as she inspected her handy work. "It looks good on you." She handed Hermione a mirror.

Hermione had to admit that she did look good. She looked healthier and more natural than when Jule made her so pale, and she looked and felt more like herself and at the same time less. Hermione had never thought she could still look beautiful without making the drastic changes Jule was so fond of. It opened up all kinds of new possibilities to her.

They made their way across Hogsmeade towards the unnamed club. It wasn't nearly as exciting looking during the day time. Hermione supposed that part of it was the lack of the bouncer and the witches and wizards standing in line. They entered through the front door and saw that the inside looked pretty different too. It was well lit for once, and it wasn't nearly as mysterious. The bar was closed and empty, no Phil to give them free drinks.

At the stage at the back of the club a witch dressed similarly to Hermione (in that her clothing was tight, black, and slightly revealing) warbled to the group of people in front of her. The band was dressed normally, but all the witches auditioning were wearing the same sort of clubbing apparel to impress those they had to perform for.

Hermione joined the line and watched as one by one the witches in front of her auditioned. Some were horrible and some were pretty good. But all too soon it was Hermione's turn to perform. She stepped onto the stage and was blinded by the spotlight they shone on her (this was used to simulate the way it would be in an actual performance). Hermione found that it was easier to sing when she couldn't see the people she was singing for. She opened her mouth and sang the same song she had sung the night before with Jule.

As she let the last note of the haunting song die Hermione heard clapping. She blushed, smiled, and curtsied before stepping off the stage. She had been the last person to audition, so afterward she joined the other witches who had sung next to the stage.

"May, right?" A deep male voice came from behind her. Hermione turned to find Tom, the lead-guitarist who had bought her a drink.

"Oh, hi!" She said brightly. "Yeah, and you're Tom?" She already knew the answer but he nodded anyway.

"I had no idea you could sing like that, that was incredible!" He complimented. Hermione just blushed a deeper shade of red. "Look, the band talked about it and we've decided we want you to be our new singer."

"Really?" Hermione hadn't expected that. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you're great!" Tom smiled sweetly. "So, are you in? We can't pay you much, but you get free drinks." He grinned jokingly.

"Um, okay," Hermione stumbled across her words. "I just can't believe it!"

"Awesome!" Tom exclaimed. "Hey, guys," he shouted over his shoulder. "She's in!"

The rest of the witches left sulkily and Tom proceeded to explain the rules to Hermione. Her first practice would be the next night and her first performance on Wednesday. Then, if everything went well, they would perform again Friday and Saturday and then again the next Monday and so on. "You really do get free drinks," he said matter-of-factly. "But if you're gonna drink, only have as many as you can handle. And don't do drugs while we're performing if you're into that. It's really unprofessional to be fucked up during a performance." Hermione had nodded; she understood.

"So," Tom had concluded. "Think you can handle everything?"

"Yup," Hermione nodded. "But I'd better be going now."

"Okay," Tom bobbed his head good naturedly. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at noon for the audition." Then he had leaned down and kissed Hermione on the cheek.

Hermione blushed prettily and looked down. She liked Tom but she got the distinct feeling that she didn't like him as much as he liked her. With another wave to her other band-members Hermione and Jule left, Jule grinning evilly and singing (badly), "Tom and Hermione, sittin' in a tree…"

TBC………

A/N: Thank you kind reviewers! The song Hermione sang is called Crybabies and is by Rasputina. It's one of my favorite songs and you should download it if you haven't heard it already. If you don't think it sounds exactly like my description of how Hermione performed it, that's because I wrote it to be like the way that I sing it. Review!

Preview for next week:

"You fascinate me," Malfoy whispered right before he kissed her.


	9. Fascinated Kissing

1If you can see anything different in the writing style from this point on it's because this is where I stopped the story the first time around. It's been like a year, so my writing may have changed. Sorry if it has!

Chapter 9: Fascinated Kissing

Draco made his way through the crowded night club, eyes desperately searching for a glimpse of May. It was Wednesday night and he was desperate. Draco knew that if he didn't find his mystery girl he would lose his mind. Already he was slipping; it was only the third week of school and already he was behind in every class but Potions. Snape was giving him extensions.

Lucky for Draco the American mudblood had cancelled the animagus class that night and nothing had stopped him from going to the club. He didn't think that he could handle another failed transformation.

Draco had been losing sleep as well. His dreams were haunted by wolves and May's face. Very peculiar.

As Draco continued to explore the dance floor the music, some song by the Weird Sisters, cut off abruptly. There were loud groans from the crowd but they were stopped when the small stage at the back of the club lit up.

The club's usual band was setting up. The drummer was sliding into place as the guitarist and bassist slipped on their instruments. The guitarist stepped up to the empty microphone at the front of the stage and started speaking.

"Hi everybody," he said. "As some of you might know last week we lost our lead singer, but tonight we are happy to present someone new. This is her first show, so everybody give a round of applause for the lovely May!"

There was some scattered applause through the crowd. Draco's jaw had dropped.

"Hey," May said nervously. She appeared to be composing herself. The music started.

May was great. Draco had no idea what she was saying (A/N: I'm REALLY bad at song writing, hehe) but he could tell that her voice was incredible. It flowed over him like honey and he couldn't stop himself from dancing along with the rest of the crowd.

The music stirred feelings in him that Draco couldn't completely understand. He felt happy and sad depending on the tone of the song. Draco had never been so moved by music, or anything really, in his whole life. It was May's magic, working on him in yet another way.

The set lasted for about an hour. When it ended the crowd applauded loudly. Clearly May had earned her right to stay. Draco had made his way to the front of the stage and was clapping along with everyone else. That is, he was clapping until he saw May hug the guitarist. Over the other wizard's shoulder May met Draco's eyes and her happy expression seemed frozen in place. Maybe some of what Draco had been feeling had leaked into his face. He turned around and walked away.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hermione had dreaded this day. She had been excited and nauseous all at the same time. She was thrilled to be performing for the first time but the thought of baring her soul in front of all of those people was terrifying. Not to mention the added stress of Malfoy possibly being there. And then there was Tom… Hermione didn't know what to do about Tom. She liked him, but she didn't really think that she was interested in him. But he was in the band and she didn't want to hurt his feelings and screw everything up… To say the least Hermione was a bit of a wreck.

Jule had cancelled the class that night to give them extra prep-time, so Jule had been able to distract Hermione for a while at least. At dinner Hermione had been listlessly picking at her food when Jule had plopped down next to her.

"Yo!" Jule said loudly. Hermione jumped a bit. "My, my. Aren't we the nervous wreck this lovely evening?"

Hermione growled indistinctly.

"I'll take that as a yes," Jule decided. "What, aren't you excited to see your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Hermione snapped.

"Chill, man," Jule held up her hands in an attempt to placate Hermione. "I was just joking. Didn't he kiss you again at the practice though?"

"Yeah," Hermione muttered gloomily. "But I'm just not that attracted to him."

"Damn," Jule nodded. "I understand. He's not your type. No blond hair, no gray eyes. Totally wrong for you."

"I will stab you with this fork."

Jule's only response was to move backward a bit.

After several moments of awkward silence Jule decided to break the ice. "So anyway, let's go. You're not eating anyway and we need to sexify you for tonight."

"Mifk."

"I'll take that as an OK."

"Hrmf."

"Alright, let's just go."

Jule had practically dragged Hermione from the Great Hall up to the Head's common room. Malfoy was thankfully elsewhere.

Jule shoved Hermione onto her bed and dumped out the contents of her school bag. "Tonight we have a selection, since it's a special occasion," she proclaimed proudly.

Hermione shifted through the material briefly. "You choose, I think I need to lie down."

"Yay!" Jule pulled out a sleeveless black corset that buttoned up the back and a frilly black skirt that looked a bit like a tutu. "Put these on, ya bitch!"

"Aren't we peppy tonight," Hermione muttered before grabbing the clothing and walking into the bathroom. After she was dressed she had been forced to admit that she looked pretty damn hot. "Good choice," she begrudgingly admitted to Jule.

"You look sexy. Make-up time!"

"Seriously, what did you take today? You're kind of freaking me out."

"I just popped some amphetamines. No biggy. I get them for ADHD."

"Do you even have ADHD?"

"No, but my doctor doesn't know that," Jule laughed.

Hermione just shrugged and let Jule do her make-up. When she was done Hermione's hair hung in soft black curls down to her waist. Her skin was still tan and her lips were ruby red. Her eyes were outlined in black and she had silver glitter eye-shadow.

"Cool," she said into the mirror, still inspecting herself.

"Yeah, I am," Jule agreed. Here, put these on too." She handed Hermione a pair of black fish-net stockings. "That's hot," she added after Hermione had pulled them on.

As Hermione was putting her steel-toed boots on Jule changed too. She ended up wearing what looked to Hermione like a black and pink Tinkerbelle dress. Her make-up was pale and glittery except for bright pink lipstick and her hair was a pale purple pixie-cut.

"Cute but weird," Hermione commented. Jule blew her a kiss as her only response.

The girl's had flown to the club and been allowed in through the back door. The back door led to a small make-up room where the band got ready. Tom had given Hermione a warm hug before walking away to talk to the drummer, Jim.

At present Hermione was sitting staring into her hands as a Weird Sister's song played in the other room. She was feeling even more nauseous than she had all day when Jule sat down next to her.

"Are you okay?" Jule sounded uncharacteristically serious.

"I'm just nervous. What if they hate me?" Hermione whispered.

"For one thing they won't hate you. You're a hot chick with a great voice. And for another thing even if they did hate you it wouldn't really be you. It would just be May."

"I should probably be worried that you're starting to make sense to me," Hermione half-joked.

"I know, scary isn't it?" Jule grinned mischievously.

Just then the music blasting from the other room stopped abruptly. "This is it." Hermione stated as Tom introduced her.

"…applause for the lovely May!" Tom was saying as Hermione walked out into the main room of the club. The scattered applause didn't discourage her as she let herself fully slip into the persona of May. The disregard of the audience only fueled May's desire to prove herself.

Taking a deep breath Hermione started to sing.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Almost an hour later the set was finished. The audience was cheering and Hermione's heart was beating so hard that she thought it would explode. She was flushed with an intense joy and pride and could do nothing but fling her arms around Tom.

Looking over Tom's shoulder at the crowd Hermione saw the person she had been dreading. Malfoy's gaze was glued to her face and Hermione felt herself being sucked in as her eyes met his. The look on Malfoy's face was a combination of pain, anger, and longing. Hermione could feel her smile freezing as she looked into the eyes of her enemy and found… pity. There was no hatred, no anger in her heart, but the intense desire to help the lost little boy she could see in Malfoy.

Then Malfoy was gone. It was so sudden that Hermione didn't even realize he was leaving until he was gone.

Tearing herself out of Tom's arms Hermione leapt off the small stage and practically ran through the crowd. Lucky for her it was so crowded that Malfoy had had trouble getting far. Unlucky for her the crowd was all over her.

Eventually Hermione fought her way out of the crowd and towards the bar. She was just in time to see Malfoy's blond hair disappearing through the front door of the club. Hermione ran after him.

By the time Hermione caught up to Malfoy he was almost a block away from the club.

"Hi," Hermione said awkwardly. Now that she had reached Malfoy she was beginning to realize that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

Malfoy whipped around in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asked bluntly.

"Um, I'm not quite sure," Hermione admitted. "It's just; I saw you're face in there and… I don't know, I felt like I needed to talk to you or something. Like I owed you an explanation."

"What is there to explain?" Malfoy said bitterly. "You were just hugging your boyfriend or whatever."

"He's not my boyfriend," Hermione said quietly. "He's just my friend."

"Girl's like you can't have guys as just friends," Malfoy sneered.

"Are you calling me a slut?" Hermione gasped. Malfoy's face blanched.

"No, no, of course not," he hurried to assure her. "What I mean is, no man could be around you and only think of you as a friend. You're too beautiful."

"You'd be surprised how many guys are just my friends," Hermione said wryly. "Anyway, what I want to know is why you were so upset when you thought Tom was my boyfriend."

"I wasn't upset," Malfoy snapped back arrogantly.

"Don't lie to me Malfoy," Hermione snapped back just as arrogantly. "I saw your face. You really suck at hiding your emotions by the way."

"I wouldn't say I was upset," Malfoy, for once, was struggling for words. "More like disappointed."

"And why was that?" Hermione took a hesitant step towards Malfoy.

"Well…" Malfoy seemed to be leaning forward a bit.

"What?" Hermione moved even closer so that her chest was almost touching his.

For a long moment they merely stared at one another in silence. Hermione could hear his breathing, and noticed how they were somehow breathing in sync. For a second she almost suspected that she could hear his heart beating, it was so still. Leaning forward even closer, Malfoy drew in a long breath.

"You fascinate me," Malfoy whispered right before he kissed her.

Hermione shouldn't have been surprised. A blind idiot a mile away could have read their body language and expected the kiss long before it happened. Hermione shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. What surprised her most about the kiss was the fact that she liked it.

Malfoy's lips were like fire on her own, his hands hot on her back, crushing her body against his as they both opened their mouths and battled with their tongues. Hermione's hands were around his neck as Malfoy's hands were buried in her hair.

The kiss was long and intense and Hermione thought she might collapse by the time it was over. When at long last Malfoy did pull away Hermione had to keep her hands around his neck to keep from falling.

"I can't believe it's only been two weeks since I first saw you," Malfoy whispered. "I feel like I've known you all my life, May."

The sound of her alter-ego's name froze any warmth Hermione had been feeling. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized that she had just kissed Malfoy again.

"Er, I gotta go." Hermione gasped before she broke away from his grip and ran back towards the club.

Draco watched her go in heart-broken confusion.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Tom was waiting for Hermione at the entrance to the club. His lips were pressed together tightly and he didn't say anything as he walked Hermione back to the dressing room. Clearly he had seen her and Malfoy kissing.

As soon as they were both in the empty dressing room Tom closed the door and gave Hermione a long look.

"May, can I ask you why you were just kissing Draco Malfoy?" Tom asked slowly.

"I'd tell you if I knew," Hermione said weakly.

"You don't know?" Tom seemed angry. "What about me? I haven't exactly been subtle May; didn't I make it obvious to you that I was interested?"

"Yes." Hermione whispered.

"Well couldn't you tell me that you already had something going on with Malfoy?" Tom yelled.

"Look, if you want to know the truth I met Malfoy once two weeks ago in this club. We kissed and I haven't seen him since. I didn't tell you anything was going on because I didn't know anything was going on. There's something strange between Malfoy and me, and I'm not exactly sure what it is. Chemistry or something." Hermione was angry by this point. "But even if I hadn't kissed Malfoy tonight I still would have had to have this talk with you eventually. I like you, but I'm not attracted to you. I'm sorry, but I can't change that and it's probably for the best because if things didn't work out then the whole band thing would be screwed up and it means a lot to me to have you as a friend!" By the end Hermione was nearly incomprehensible and panting. She justified some of the semi-truths about things with Malfoy by the fact that technically May had only met him two weeks ago and hadn't seen him since.

Tom was taken aback. It probably had never occurred to him the Hermione might not return his favor. "OK then." He said slowly. "I guess we can still be friends then."

Hermione was still catching her breath. "We can?" She gasped.

"Yes," Tom was calm again. "I can't force you to be attracted to me after all."

Hermione would never understand men.

A/N: OK, this is the first thing I've written in a really long time, so don't yell at me if it sucks. Um, hopefully future chapters will be more plotful, this chapter was just meant to kind of move things along between Draco and Hermione and to get rid of the threat of Tom. Um…. Sorry about no lyrics for the song, it's just I can't write songs for shit and I didn't want them to do a cover.

REVIEW!

Preview:

"Headmaster, I was wondering how much you knew about a girl named May Claremont."


	10. Montage and Sweetish Love

1Warnings: Crappy writing, nudity, sex but NO blasphemy (that I noticed).

Chapter 10: Montage and Sweet-ish Love

Draco returned to his dorm dazed with both happiness and confusion. May had kissed him. Clearly she liked him too; else she wouldn't have jumped offstage to run after him. But then she had run back to the club without any explanation, so maybe she didn't really like him that much after all.

Collapsing onto his bed Draco sighed and gazed at the portrait of May he had drawn in chalk on his wall. It really did look a lot like her, only… Draco couldn't help but think, at first glance, that the portrait also sort of resembled Granger. Well, if it did, it must just be a coincidence, Draco told himself. After all, seen one broad seen 'em all. But he didn't really believe that, not about May at least. And Granger did not have what anyone would call common looks. She didn't do things the way most girls seemed to; she never tried to be anything more than what she was. She didn't wear a lot of make-up, he thought that she probably rarely wore any, and she didn't bother to dress especially nicely. Draco even had the sneaking suspicion that she was not, in fact, as dumpy as she looked but rather wore a uniform that was unattractively loose. That intrigued him for some reason.

"What is wrong with you Draco," he muttered to himself. "Why the hell are you thinking about Granger when May just kissed you! Idiot."

Draco remembered quite clearly how soft May's lips had been, and the way her body had felt pressed up against his, every curve and angle of their two bodies fitting together perfectly, like a puzzle or something. She too was not a common beauty and definitely not a classic one. May did not look stick thin and starving like most "beautiful" girls, but rather had beautiful, soft curves. When the fashion seemed to be dictating straight-haired blondes as the norm May was a curly-haired brunette. And it had been so much more fun to get his hands tangled in that mess of black curls.

Damn, now that Draco was thinking over May's looks and the sensations of the kiss they had shared he didn't think he could sleep. In fact he was in desperate need of a cold shower. Cursing, Draco jumped up and stalked angrily into his bathroom for what would most likely be a very long shower.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The second set was over and Hermione had never felt so wonderful in her entire life. Confused, yes, but wonderful nonetheless. Malfoy liked her, and oddly enough she liked him too. The audience had loved her and Tom seemed happy to stay friends. Everything looked perfect. So was it?

Hermione still couldn't understand her odd attraction to Malfoy. He hated her, and she thought that she hated him too, but now she wasn't so sure. When he thought that she was May he had let his guard down and seemed vulnerable and almost…sweet. Could it be true? Hermione hoped it was; sweet, vulnerable Malfoy seemed much preferable to asshole Malfoy.

Jule flew Hermione back to her room without pressing her with too many questions. In fact Jule seemed oddly silent, considering she was Jule, but Hermione was too distracted by Malfoy to notice or care. Jule left the head's common room almost as soon as they arrived and marched up to her own bed in Gryffindor tower. Hermione cleaned herself up and fell into blissfully thoughtless, uncomplicated sleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Time went by, the band performed well and the club seemed to be getting even more popular. Malfoy was at almost every performance and Hermione found herself spending a little time with him after every set that he attended, talking and kissing. She found herself liking him more and more. Once, she told him that she was muggle-born and asked him what he thought of that, considering his reputation as a probable future-Death Eater. He had responded simply:

"It's not true. I don't want to be a Death Eater. And I don't hate mud--, I mean muggle-borns. Just one in particular, the Head Girl at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger. I first called her mudblood because I was angry and I'd heard my father use that insult before. Then I just kept doing it out of habit really. I don't care about blood much one way or the other; my Dad's pureblood and he's still a bastard. I just hassle Granger about it because she's a raving bitch."

Hermione had elbowed him in the ribs and pretended it was an accident and when she pressed him he refused to exaggerate on how his father was a bastard, but Hermione didn't care. Even if his explanation involved hating the real her, at least he wasn't really a prejudiced pig.

For her part Hermione lied as little as possible. Since it was obvious that "May" did not attend Hogwarts Hermione explained that she had studied at Beauxbatons instead and that she was eighteen and had graduated the year before. Technically she was eighteen, thanks to her time-turner, and (since her mother was French) she was fairly fluent in French anyway. When he demanded she tell him her last name Hermione gave in and told him that it was Claremont.

Hermione found herself liking Draco more and more as a person, and she even worked hard to get along with him during their long, tedious hours of working on their Potions assignment when (knowing who she was) he hated her. Even though Hermione almost seriously damaged her tongue by biting it so much, she eventually seemed to reach some kind of peace with Draco and he got the picture and started to be semi-polite to her during Potions. The hardest part about spending time with Draco as herself for Hermione was not using his first name, as she had started to when she was May. She had to watch herself constantly.

Hermione grew closer to Jule as well. Even though she had only known her for two months, by Halloween Hermione found herself feeling closer to Jule than she ever had to Harry and Ron. After all, Jule knew things that Hermione would never tell the boys.

Yes, by Halloween Hermione thought that she had her life under control. That is, until a few days before Halloween when it was announced that there would be a Halloween ball for the seventh years.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It was Saturday, three days before Halloween, and Hermione and the band had finished playing for the night. Now she was backstage in her dressing room making out with Draco. He was lying on top of her on the couch placed next to the make-up table and it seemed that he was very busy trying to untie the lace at the front of the black corset she was wearing.

"Draco, calm down," she murmured into his ear. "If you try too hard you'll never get it untied." She laughed softly at him.

Pulling back Draco looked down at her and grinned. "You know, dating you Goth-rocker chicks does have its drawbacks after all."

Hermione pulled back in shock. "We're dating?"

"Well, for the past month and a half or so we've been meeting after your shows several times a week. What would you call it?"

"I don't know," Hermione responded slowly. "It's just; we've never actually been on a date."

"That's just a formality."

Hermione shrugged. "I've never been in any kind of real relationship before; I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"Really?" Draco seemed taken aback. "But you're so…hot."

Hermione giggled. "You're cute." She pulled him down for a kiss.

Several minutes and half the strings on Hermione's top later Draco pulled back again. "Hey, there's a Halloween dance-thing at Hogwarts on Halloween. You wouldn't want to come or anything, would you?" He asked.

"And end our streak of dating without going on any real dates, really?" Hermione responded slightly sarcastically. Then she laughed, to show she didn't mean it. "Um, I guess so. Are you actually allowed to bring someone who doesn't go to the school though?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course." Draco answered immediately. "I already asked the headmaster and he said it would be fine if you came, since you live so close and everything."

"Did he really?" Hermione answered slowly, pulling herself up so that they were sitting on the couch facing each other instead of lying down. "Exactly how much have you told him about me?"

"Not much," Draco replied absent-mindedly, leaning in to kiss Hermione's neck.

Hermione pushed him off. "No, seriously, I want to know what Dumbledore knows. I don't know if I want somebody so…all-knowing to know that much about me."

"May, come on, I just told him that you sing at the club and live in Hogsmeade. He asked me where, but since I've never been to your flat…"

"And you won't be going to my flat," Hermione cut him off. "I've told you, I live with my parents and they don't like me bringing guys around."

"You're eighteen May!"

"So what, they're still my parents!" Hermione snapped, angry at herself for having to lie to him. She changed the subject. "Alright, I'll go to your stupid dance!"

"You will?" Draco smiled happily at her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hermione shrugged in feigned nonchalance.

Draco kissed her.

Thirty minutes later Hermione glanced at her watch. It was two in the morning. Shoving Draco off of her she jumped up and hurriedly tried to retie her strings. "It's really late; you should probably go back to school." She muttered distractedly.

"May, it's a Saturday, I can sleep in tomorrow. In fact no one will think anything of it if they don't see me at all…"

"Draco, don't start with me, because it's definitely not happening. There is no way that we are having sex tonight in some dingy dressing room, so don't even try!" Hermione snapped, not really that mad.

"Fine, fine, I'm going," Draco knew she wasn't really angry; they had the same exchange all the time. "Look, come to the castle on Halloween at eight, I'll meet you at the front doors to the Entrance Hall, okay?"

"Sure," Hermione finished tying her corset and pulled Draco in for a kiss before running out of the door, casting a brief "See you then!" behind her.

Draco smiled and left the club, flying back to his room and peaceful sleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Despite the fact that Hermione had not gotten back to her room until 2:30 and had not gone to sleep until 3:00, she still awoke bright and early at eight the next morning. Throwing on a tee-shirt and jeans (casual clothing since it was a Sunday) Hermione marched through the mostly empty halls of Hogwarts and straight to the gargoyle that marked the headmaster's office.

"Root-beer," Hermione announced calmly and the gargoyle jumped aside to reveal a winding stair-case. As soon as Hermione set foot on the first step the stairs started to move up like an escalator, but Hermione walked as well to get to the top faster. The door at the top of the stairs was closed so Hermione knocked on it and entered when Dumbledore invited her to.

"Ah, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said fondly. "What brings you here this morning?"

"Headmaster, I was wondering how much you knew about a girl named May Claremont," Hermione said carefully.

"Ah, Mister Malfoy's friend. I know that she is an eighteen year old girl who sings at that club the students think that I don't know about and that she also sometimes goes by the name Hermione, am I right?" Dumbledore twinkled at Hermione.

"Sir, if you know what I'm up to, why aren't you stopping me?" Hermione couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I must be breaking at least twenty school rules, but you're actually helping me lie to Draco? It doesn't make sense."

"Oh, you're just having a bit of fun, and it hasn't interfered with your school-work or any of your duties as Head Girl, so I don't think that it should matter that you've broken a few silly rules," Dumbledore's twinkle was now even more pronounced and it was obvious that he was not saying something.

Hermione was not stupid. In fact she had often been called quite brilliant, so it hit her suddenly and obviously why Dumbledore didn't care: "It's suiting your plans." She murmured. Dumbledore's smile grew even wider.

"If Draco and I get close enough for him to know who I am and not care, then the Houses will be brought closer together."

"Quite right, Miss Granger," Dumbledore was still smiling happily. "And don't forget that you may be keeping Mister Malfoy from joining forces with Lord Voldemort."

Hermione shrugged. "He never wanted that anyway."

"You know that and I know that, but most people do not know that including Draco's father," Dumbledore explained. "And I am certain that he will try to force Draco to join the Death Eaters once you have all graduated. But it is my belief that if you and Mister Malfoy fall in love…"

"Then he'll care more about me than he will about doing what his father wants." Hermione finished. "Well thought out, sir. So, I guess I'll be going to the ball as May then, huh?"

"Unless you decide to tell Draco who you really are before then, I guess so," Dumbledore agreed. "But you should know, Miss Granger, that although I respect your choice to live a double life I find it rather unnecessary. I see nothing in you that warrants hiding behind an assumed identity."

Hermione blushed at his compliment. "Thank you, Professor, but it's something that I feel I have to do. I'm not ready to be myself yet, not in front of everyone."

"Very well, Miss Granger," Dumbledore nodded. "Remember that you may speak with me anytime."

"Thank you again, Professor." Hermione left.

She would never get over how truly mad and brilliant Dumbledore really was. What he did seemed, at times, so reckless and foolish, but there was always a plan to it. She just hoped that this plan of his would work out, for her sake as much as for Dumbledore's.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The day of the ball dawned overcast and cold. Halloween, it seemed, would not be peaceful this year. Hermione got up normally and attended all of her classes as usual, but she didn't really pay a lot of attention to any of them. Tonight she and Draco would go to the ball and she couldn't wait.

Classes ended early that day so that everyone could prepare for the Halloween Feast and so that the seventh years could get ready for their ball after the feast. Hermione attended dinner at six along with everyone, but ate little out of nervousness. Pleading illness, Hermione pretended to retire early to bed, even putting up a bit of a show of regret about missing the party. No one really noticed or cared.

Hermione and Jule raced up to Hermione's room to get ready. After talking to Dumbledore on Sunday morning Hermione had woken Jule and the two had gone shopping in Hogsmeade for the party. Normally Jule would have preferred to make the clothing, but Hermione felt like wasting some of the money she was making from the band. She didn't need it, really; she was only singing for fun.

Jule had only bought a pair of plain black high heeled shoes, but Hermione had bought an entire outfit. She bought a long, tight, black gown that accentuated her figure and displayed her bust to advantage. To wear with the gown she had bought dark burgundy dress robes in the most stylish cut available and black pumps with cute, rounded toes.

"That's not a very May thing to wear," Jule observed lazily when Hermione showed her.

"Well, maybe I'm not just trying to be May," Hermione replied defensively. "Maybe I'm trying to be myself too."

Jule had shrugged. "I'm not saying I don't like it, I'm just saying it's not in character."

"I'm sick of living my life in character," Hermione had snapped. "I finally have a boyfriend and I can't even be myself with him. I'm going to wear this dress and he's going to like it, or else."

"No need to throw a bitch-fit," Jule remained calm and unfazed by Hermione's outbursts. "What, are you on the rag or something?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Hermione had bought the outfit anyway and now she was dressed and inspecting herself in the mirror in her room before the ball.

"You were right, I don't look like May," she sighed to Jule's reflection behind her own.

"Don't worry, as long as we do your makeup like May it won't matter what you're wearing. Besides, you still look damn sexy," Jule announced cheerfully.

"Thanks."

"Now sit down and let me beautify you," Jule commanded grandly, shoving Hermione into a chair.

When Jule was finished Hermione had May's long black hair curling down her back with elegant black eye makeup and red lipstick.

"There, simple, but still May and with enough Hermione in there to keep anyone satisfied," Jule decided. "Now I'm going up to my room to get myself ready, you go down and meet your lover."

"He's not my lover!"

"Whatever."

It was only a quarter past seven, so Hermione decided that it was a safe time to go downstairs and pretend to be arriving from Hogsmeade. The trick was to get there without anyone seeing her first. Casting an illusion on herself Hermione proudly made her way down to the Entrance Hall in the guise of a rather angry looking Professor Snape. The illusion was pretty damn good, in Hermione's opinion, and the few people she met on her way kept a safe distance away from her and avoided eye contact, which was lucky because direct eye contact would allow a determined viewer to see the truth behind any illusion.

Hermione arrived at the Entrance Hall without incident and slipped out the front doors before removing the illusion and looking like May once more. As she stood under the shelter of the small foyer in front of the front doors the gloomy sky broke and rain finally started to fall. Hermione watched fat raindrops smack into the earth as she waited for Draco to meet her. It was beautiful to just watch the rain fall.

Hermione was so absorbed in the rain that she didn't hear the doors open behind her as Draco came out to meet May. For a moment Draco kept his presence a secret, happy simply to watch May watch the rain. But eventually he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and watched in amusement as May whipped around in surprise.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she smiled warmly at him.

"You look really beautiful." Draco said honestly.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself," Hermione replied just as honestly. In a black suit and dark green dress robes Draco looked positively gorgeous. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Should we go inside?" She asked. He nodded and, taking her by the hand, led her into the ball.

The Great Hall was decorated pretty well. Although there was not a live band there was popular music playing from some hidden source and there were festive Halloween decorations everywhere. The walls were hung with orange banners and lined with black chairs for those who chose not to dance. A table of refreshments stood at the far end of the hall and the house tables seemed to have vanished, leaving lots of space for dancing.

"Do you want a drink?" Draco asked devotedly.

"Sure, why don't you go get us something and I'll wait here?" Hermione suggested.

"Okay, be right back." Draco made his way towards the refreshments table. The hall now held most of the seventh years, but a few more were still entering. It really was going to be a small party with only the graduating class in attendance.

Hermione waited awkwardly next to a giant jack-o-lantern for Draco to return. She saw Jule walk into the Great Hall and waved discreetly at her. Jule looked nice in a knee-length, clingy, low-cut black dress and pale lavender dress-robes. Just to contrast her generally classy appearance she had a fake Mohawk with the hair from the center of her head pulled upwards and stuck that way and the hair on the sides hanging down in pretty brown curls. She got a few strange looks but she didn't seem to notice.

As she stood there many people cast curious glances in her direction. At first a few had thought she really was Hermione, but on closer inspection they decided that she couldn't be and everyone was curious about who this strange girl could be. Much to her surprise Harry was the first to approach Hermione.

"Hi, I'm Harry, have we met, you look familiar?"

"Um, not that I know of," Hermione lied. "My names May. I don't really go here."

"No? Then why are you here?" Harry asked politely.

"My boyfriend goes here," Hermione responded wanting to smirk at her best-friend and also feeling a bit annoyed that he was so easily fooled by her disguise. "Maybe you know him, Draco Malfoy?"

"Oh, you're here with him?" Harry seemed surprised.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, I don't know, you seem a little nice to be here with a jerk like him," Harry blurted out.

"I don't think he's a jerk." Hermione was enjoying messing with Harry; it was more fun than she had expected it to be.

"You can't have known him that long then. Believe me, we've known each other since first year; he's not a nice guy."

"You can't have dated him, because then you would know him the way that I do and I think that your opinion would be pretty different. Unless you two had a rough break-up, of course?" Hermione was laughing on the inside.

"What! No! Of course not!"

"Oh, alright then," Hermione nodded agreeably. "Draco!"

Draco had in fact returned with the drinks. As soon as he was close enough Hermione threw her arms around him and planted a big sloppy kiss on his cheek. She was pleased to notice that her lipstick had left a large red set of lips on his face. Harry watched the exchange in something verging on horror.

"Potter," Draco drawled. "What are you doing talking to my date?"

"Um, nothing, she's all yours," Harry backed away slowly.

Once Harry was gone Hermione full out laughed. "What, did you have fun teasing Pothead?" Draco asked, amused.

"Yeah," Hermione giggled. "But you probably shouldn't call him that; after all, he is the savior." At this they both chuckled.

Hermione and Draco spent the night dancing and drinking glowing, orange punch that someone spiked about halfway through the party. Shortly before discovering the new alcoholic content of the punch Hermione thought she spotted Jule near the bowl holding something silver and shiny, but she kept her suspicions to herself and enjoyed the alcohol.

One of the best parts of the night was probably when Draco introduced Hermione and Jule. They pretended never to have met before and both struggled very hard not to laugh, especially considering that all three of them (Draco, Hermione and Jule) were kind of drunk.

"May," Draco slurred slightly. "This is Jule. She's teaching me to be an animagus."

"Really, that's absolutely fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed in false excitement. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jule."

"Right back at you, May was it?"

"Yes."

"Quite."

When they walked away Draco whispered into Hermione's ear, "Best watch out, she and Hermione Granger are lezzies. Wonder where Granger is?"

Hermione elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Don't talk that way about people. I don't care if they're gay, I don't like those kinds of insults."

"Sorry," Draco drawled, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

Eventually, when they were even more drunk, Hermione and Draco stopped dancing altogether and sat in a dark corner making out. Then, glancing about and giggling nervously, the two exited the Great Hall and made their way up to the Head's common room.

"SHHHHHHHH!" Draco said loudly when they entered. "I don't want to wake Granger!" He pointed towards Hermione's closed door; the light was clearly out. "Come on." Holding hands, Draco led Hermione to his room.

She had never been there before. It was mostly as she might have expected it to be, dark and classy, but one part of the room surprised her, even in her drunken state. One of the walls appeared to be a blackboard and on that blackboard, among other things, was a chalk drawing of what appeared to be her.

"What is that?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't have any photographs of you, so I drew it," Draco seemed almost embarrassed.

Seeing a camera on his desk Hermione grabbed it and shot a picture of herself. She then grabbed Draco and, pulling him into a kiss, snapped another photo, this one of the two of them. "There," she slurred. "Now you do." She then tossed the camera carelessly back onto the desk and grabbed Draco by the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her. The two collapsed onto the bed kissing with Draco on top.

They kissed for a while and then Hermione started to remove Draco's robes as he removed hers. Then Hermione unbuttoned Draco's shirt. He kicked off his shoes and sat up so that she could pull the shirt off all the way. He stood and unzipped his pants, letting them fall to the floor carelessly. He was now only in his boxers. Hermione stood up too and he pulled her dress off over her head so that she stood in front of him wearing only a bra, panties, and her cute pumps. She stepped out of the shoes and unclipped her bra, boldly exposing herself. Draco drank in the sight of her. Both taking a deep breath they both removed their underwear and stood completely naked in front of each other.

For a moment all they could do was stare and drink each other in. Then they both moved at once to kiss and they collapsed back onto the bed.

They were both pretty drunk, so the sex was sloppy and fast, not what Hermione had really expected. For one thing it was painful, and not particularly fun, at least at first. After a few minutes though the sharp pain dulled and it started to feel kind of nice, and then great. Then it was over. Hermione couldn't help but feel disappointed, but she was also drunk, so she was too busy passing out to dwell on her disappointment.

A/N: Ok, I know that was probably the most upsetting sex description ever, aside from anything about rape of course, but I was trying to be accurate and that's probably what would have happened their first time, especially if they were drunk. Hermione's lucky Draco could even get an erection, let alone have sex, drunk as they are. Anyway, the sex in later chapters will be vastly superior, believe me. Other than the ending, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It included what I fondly think of as the literary version of a film montage. If this were a movie then the music for the montage would have been A.D.I.D.A.S by Korn, hehe. Anyway, review.

Also, people have been asking where Harry and Ron are and I think someone asked about Ginny too. The answer is this: Harry and Ron aren't really important parts of this story. It's about Hermione's road to self discovery and such. And I never much liked Ginny. I don't dislike her; she just never seemed very interesting. Now that J.K. Rowling wrote her in as Harry's girlfriend I might incorporate that, but like Harry and Ron she isn't an important character in this story. At any rate, like I said already, REVIEW!

Preview:

"Well, she probably won't be my girlfriend for much longer, so mudblood, mudblood, MUDBLOOD!" He yelled, storming into his room.


	11. Sadness and Joy

Warning: Once more, sexual content and other such blather.

Chapter 11: Sadness and Joy

The next day was a Tuesday, since Halloween had unfortunately fallen on a Monday that year, so Draco rose early. He saw no reason, however, why May should not be allowed to sleep late. So, with a light kiss, Draco had left his slumbering girlfriend and gone to class.

Oddly, Granger's door was still closed and it looked like the lights were out. Draco at first figured she had risen early, but when he didn't see her at breakfast he started to worry. He didn't care if Granger was too sick to go to class, what he cared about was her seeing May and saying something about it. Draco hadn't checked, but he was pretty sure there were school rules against having strange non-students spend the night, especially strange non-students of the opposite sex.

Either way, there was nothing he could do; it was already time for class. Granger was missing the entire day, and it seemed that Draco wasn't the only one who noticed her disappearance. Potter and Weasley looked slightly concerned, while Jule didn't seem to particularly care. The teachers were all rather surprised, except for Snape who cared even less than Jule did.

Eventually it was lunch time. Instead of eating Draco rushed back upstairs to the Head's Commons and straight to his own room, not bothering to check if Granger had seen anything in case she hadn't.

May was still sleeping when he arrived, a strange peacefulness about her face that Draco found endearing. Leaning over her and shaking her gently, Draco roused her. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," May mumbled incoherently. "Where am I?"

"My room."

May sat bolt upright. "What time is it!" She demanded shrilly.

"Um, about noon," Draco replied hesitantly. "Does it matter?"

"You let me sleep in!" Even more shrilly. "Why would you do that?"

Draco was getting angry now too. "Oh, I don't know, I was just trying to be nice! What's your problem, where do you need to be so bad anyway?"

May seemed to be trying to calm herself down. "No where, don't worry about it," she breathed. He could tell she was still upset though, and that she was hiding something. "Could you just give me a little space, please Draco? I need to get dressed and go home."

Nodding sullenly Draco left, slamming the door behind him like a petulant child.

As soon as Draco was gone Hermione completely panicked. Grabbing May's clothing she ran to her own room and pulled on her uniform. Glancing in the mirror she realized that she still didn't look like herself. Almost screaming in frustration she quickly cast the spell to remove the appearance enhancers. She then raced out the door and down the stairs. That morning she had only missed three classes, Transfiguration, Herbology and Potions. Working it out in her mind she decided to play sick, even going so far as to cast a few spells to give her the semblance of a fever and a runny nose (these spells were of course not taught or even known at Hogwarts, but could be learned from a very convenient little book called _The Weasley Cure_ from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.)

She quickly made her way to McGonagall's room, who reacted as Hermione had expected she would: forgiving and concerned about her star pupil's absence. Professor Sprout reacted similarly, but Snape deducted twenty house points and gave her three detentions. Hermione cursed under her breath over the detentions but, as Head Girl, merely awarded twenty points to a Gryffindor first year for opening the door for her to replace the points she had lost.

Hermione continued to pretend to be sick during the afternoon, and was even allowed to leave Charms, her last class of the day, early because she looked so ill. Jule had regarded her coolly and without any feeling when they had finally run into each other at the beginning of Charms. She listened without comment as Hermione told her what had happened and she didn't seem to have anything to offer after Hermione was done talking. She had merely shrugged in an irritatingly meaningless way and taken some notes. Hermione decided to be mad at her. After all, Hermione had only lost her virginity! And the sex had not been good.

Ron and Harry had been more concerned than Jule, which was surprising considering the way they had pretty much ignored her since meeting Jule. They had eagerly inquired after her health and asked if there was anything they could do to make her feel better. In spite of her anger at being ignored for so long Hermione was touched and felt herself forgiving them, just a little. Since she couldn't tell them what had happened Hermione had sent them scurrying to fetch her tea and dinner and then deliver the food to her room; just because she had forgiven them some didn't mean that they didn't owe her.

Once Hermione had been set up with food, tea, and a book in front of her fire-place she had dismissed the boys. After all the crazy happenings of late she just wanted to sit in a comfortable chair and relax. The reading material was, of course, Hogwarts: A History.

Hermione was actually in a good mood, having been distracted by her book, until Draco had stormed into the common room. He was clearly still angry over "May's" irrational behavior earlier. Hermione felt a little bad about it; he had been trying to be sweet to her and she had yelled at him for it. Granted, what he had done had been stupid, but it was the stupidity of ignorance, which was her fault, and could therefore be forgiven.

However Draco, spying Hermione by the fireside, only saw someone to vent his frustration and anger on. "Hey mudblood," he sneered. "Played sick 'cause no one asked you to the ball last night, did you?"

Hermione had started at his unfamiliar tone. She had barely spoken to him as herself lately and he never spoke that way to May. Now angry again Hermione sneered back, "Don't call me that, you stupid hypocrite, everyone knows that you went to the ball with some muggle-born girl claiming to be your girlfriend. Harry told me."

Draco seemed slightly taken aback by her logical response but he was quickly overcome with anger once more. "Well, she probably won't be my girlfriend for much longer, so mudblood, mudblood, MUDBLOOD!" He yelled, storming into his room. Hermione bit her lip in consternation. She had to fix this.

Later that night, around midnight, Hermione altered her appearance and borrowed a school broom from the broom shed. She made the ridiculously short trip from her room to Draco's on the broom and knocked on his window impatiently. Draco glanced up in surprise from where he lay on his bed, clearly not sleeping yet, with only a pair of boxers on. He hurried to open the window for her, a look of irritation on his face.

"If you're here to yell at me don't bother," he said sullenly. Hermione just smiled apologetically.

"Look, I'm sorry I freaked out on you earlier," she said, looking down. "You were trying to be sweet and I never told you I needed to be home early. My parents don't like me staying out all night so I had hoped to sneak in early in the morning, but you didn't know that." Hermione inwardly cringed at the lie but continued dutifully. "So, I'm sorry I ruined everything and I hope you can forgive me." By now Hermione was only a foot away from Draco and was looking into his eyes earnestly. Draco sighed before smiling and hugging her.

"It's okay," he muttered into her hair. "I'm sorry I let you oversleep."

Hermione smiled into his shoulder, glad to be so close again, to smell his clean skin and to be safe in his arms. "Last night…" he started but trailed off. "I'm sorry if it wasn't what you expected…"

"It was my first time," Hermione whispered. She could feel his body stiffen. "I'm glad it was with you," she continued, looking up into his eyes now. "And even if it wasn't what I expected, tonight could always be better…" she trailed off suggestively.

Draco grinned before kissing her gently and picking her up. Hermione gave a little shriek as she was swept off her feet and she smiled happily as he laid her on his bed. Slowly, sensuously, Draco removed her clothing, first pulling away her shirt and bra and then her pants and underwear, kissing every inch of skin as it was revealed to him. Hermione sighed in pleasure through this treatment, gasping and moaning in shocked pleasure as he took her right nipple in his mouth. He proceeded to nibble and lick at it until it was like a hard little pebble before turning to her other nipple, continuing to caress her right breast with his hand. Draco then moved down further, trailing kisses along Hermione's abdomen and moving down towards her crotch, kissing and licking her most secret place. Eventually, before Hermione came, Draco decided she had had enough and he abruptly stood to remove his own clothing. Then his mouth was back at Hermione's kissing her passionately, his hands everywhere, his taught body pressed against hers. Then he was inside of her again, but this time there was no pain, only pleasure and Hermione could feel it building steadily, with every thrust and every moan uttered by both of them. Eventually, after several minutes of heavy thrusting, they came together.

"Draco," Hermione gasped, laying back. "Oh, May," Draco murmured, nuzzling into her neck. Hermione felt her stomach grip, and she felt slightly nauseous. For the first time it bothered her to hear the fake name on Draco's lips. For the first time she cared whether he knew it was her or not. For the first time she _wanted_ him to know that it was her, Hermione, and not some imaginary dream girl. But for now Hermione could say nothing, do nothing, but lie in his arms and run her fingers over his back, sighing in sadness and in joy.

A/N: A short chapter, but one with some better action to perhaps make up for that. Review!

Preview:

"Look," she ground out. "I know you hate me, but it's Christmas Eve and I'm bored silly, so can we just call a truce and play wizard's chess together or something, because if I can't talk to anyone I think I'll go crazy."


	12. Whisky Christmas Eve

1Chapter 12: Whisky Christmas Eve

Hermione spent almost every night in Draco's room. On night's when she had band practice or a performance they would leave together and on night's when there was nothing to do with the band Hermione would dress up like May and sneak into Draco's room through the window. It was really getting to be quite a hassle. Hermione frequently wondered how much easier it would be too just walk across the common room and into Draco's room as herself. Instead she was forced to continue her charade; it was either that or give up Draco entirely, a prospect which was becoming increasingly unattractive.

The pressure was definitely getting to Hermione. Band practice was starting to cut into her homework, Jule was as crazy as ever, Harry and Ron were paying attention to her again and therefore required some of her attention and she wasn't getting as much sleep as she really needed, thanks to Draco. Worst of all the animagus lessons didn't seem to be working. By now Draco could transform almost completely, he just tended to forget little details, like changing his hands into paws or the exact proportions of a healthy wolf's body. Hermione had made barely any progress, a fact which Draco liked to mock her about incessantly. Hermione hated that he was better at her than anything, and that he had to see her struggling while he was doing so well.

"I don't understand it!" She burst out one afternoon. She was in the library with Jule, reading up on animagi and lions. Madame Pince, the librarian, sent her an admonishing look. "It doesn't make any sense!" She whispered passionately to Jule, much quieter now. "I understand the theory, I know the anatomy of a lioness so perfectly I could draw one from memory, yet still I can barely sprout whiskers! What's wrong with me?"

"Well," Jule pondered seriously. "You remember what I told you, about being insecure and whatnot? Maybe pretending to be someone else isn't the best way to fix your insecurities." Hermione glared at her in silence. "Just a thought!" Jule added anxiously.

"Maybe you're right," Hermione sighed. "I mean the fact is I've never given all that much thought to who I was on my own. I've always been wrapped up in books, then I was Harry Potter's sidekick, and now I'm May, but who's Hermione without the books and the famous friend? No one, that's who."

"I happen to disagree," Jule murmured. "I hardly ever spend time with you when you're with Harry, we don't generally discuss books or have reading sessions together or whatever, and mostly you're just May with Malfoy. I think the real you is pretty cool, even if you don't."

Hermione smiled back weakly. "Thanks, but I can't really just take your word for it. Maybe this whole May thing was a bad idea."

"Now look," Jule brightened up instantly. "We're looking at it all wrong. The fact is May isn't some strange other person, it's just you when you aren't so afraid to be yourself. So, all you have to do is be like May, but as Hermione."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It does to me and that's all that matters as far as I'm concerned," Jule replied flippantly.

"But how can that help me then?" Hermione was starting to get frustrated with Jule's lack of helpfulness.

"OK, as May you aren't afraid to sing in public, or wear skanky clothes, or kiss random guys who turn out to be Malfoy. Since you are May that means that even as Hermione you'd be just as willing to do all of those things, you're just afraid of what other people will think. Just get over it; other people really don't care as much as you think they do."

"I don't know whether I should feel offended or not."

"It's not about you!" Jule yelled in frustration. "If you're so afraid of what other people think of you, then that means that you don't care what they do, as long as they don't look at you. Most people are just as wrapped up in themselves as you are; they're too busy worrying what you think of them to ever think about you. So get over yourself because everyone else has already gotten over you!" Jule threw down the book she had been skimming through and stomped out of the library, leaving Hermione to think.

Knowing that she had to get over herself didn't really help her do it though. Knowing something is quite different from truly realizing something.

It was with a certain relief that Hermione realized it was almost Christmastime. It was exactly what she needed; some time away from school and Jule and Draco and most especially time away from May. Hermione owled her parents asking if she could spend this Christmas vacation at home, as opposed to how she usually stayed at Hogwarts. They responded immediately that they would be very happy to have her and that she was always welcome at home.

Since she and Draco had finished their Potions project with great ease quite some time ago Hermione was not nervous about turning it in at all. On the last day of class she handed in several vials of their potion and a short paper detailing their research and predictions as well as the outcome of their experiment. In addition to using the shavings of a dragon's scale, unicorn hair, and sphinx saliva Hermione and Draco had decided to experiment with phoenix tears for regenerative and immune system properties. The result was a potion that could make the drinker ridiculously strong physically, magically, and mentally who was practically invincible. A strong potion indeed, one Hermione thought might come in handy for Harry when he had to kill Voldemort.

Snape skimmed their research lazily when she handed it in and lifted an eyebrow in interest when he came across their addition. "Interesting idea, Miss Granger. And it works?"

"Yes sir," Hermione blushed from his slight praise. "At least, it repaired minor injuries. We never tested with too much potion or inflicted too much damage to the drinker, just in case. Besides, if Malfoy drank too much he might take over the world."

"Shove it Granger," Draco hissed from beside her.

"I suppose your cowardice is understandable, Miss Granger," Snape drawled. "Very well, I will test it in a greater dosage myself, just to observe its effects. If your hypothesis was indeed correct, then this is a very valuable potion."

Hermione, not knowing whether she had been complemented or insulted simply nodded her head and left the classroom. It was the end of the last day of the term and Hermione was on her way home. She hurried back to her room to pack.

Hermione skipped through her room, throwing her things into her trunk and humming under her breath. Just the break she needed!

"Why so happy, Granger?" A familiar voice drawled from the doorway to her room.

"Not that it's any of your business, Malfoy, but I'm going home for the break," Hermione sang back.

"Lucky you," Draco muttered, sounding almost jealous. Hermione paused in her packing, staring at Draco in puzzlement.

"Well, what's wrong with you then?" She demanded, trying not to sound too concerned.

"Not that it's any of _your_ business, but I can't go home this Christmas," Draco answered sullenly. "Father's still in jail, not that I give a damn about him, and Mother's too depressed to be bothered with things like holiday cheer or seeing that her son gets fed regularly."

Hermione felt bad for poor Draco. He was miserable and she was just leaving.

"Besides which," Draco continued even more miserably. "I can't even spend the break with my girlfriend because she's visiting some friends in France." Hermione winced at the lie she herself had told just yesterday. As soon as she had received her parents' letter she had dressed as May to tell Draco she was leaving for the vacation that very day. It was too late to go back now; Draco thought May had already left.

"I'm sorry Malfoy," Hermione reached out her hand to place it tenderly on his arm. "I really am."

Draco seemed to recover himself. "Like I need your sympathy," he snarled, shaking her arm off before stomping off to his own room where he slammed the door shut behind him.

Hermione sighed, having second thoughts about her carefree vacation.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Draco stared broodingly at the fireplace in the common room. It was the morning of the day the students were leaving Hogwarts to return home for the vacation. Almost everyone was gone; all of his friends, not that he had many, and May was already off in France somewhere without him. He wished he could be anywhere else on earth right that moment.

Suddenly Granger's door burst open. Instead of emerging wearing her cloak with her packed trunk beside her Granger was dressed in pajamas like he was and she yawned, stretching sleepily.

"Did you oversleep or something?" Draco asked contemptuously. "I think you've already missed the train."

Granger shrugged. "I decided not to go."

"Why the hell not?"

Granger frowned at his prying tone. "Because, I wanted to rest and I realized if I went home I'd be swarmed by all my annoying cousins. At least here almost everyone's gone. I guess I still have to put up with you though, don't I?" She sneered at him, but the expression didn't quite reach her eyes.

Draco didn't respond, merely turning his gaze back to the fireplace from his vantage point on the couch. He was rather startled when Granger sat on the couch next to him, a large book in her hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded somewhat shrilly. "There's a red chair right over there just for you."

"Shut up," Granger answered distractedly flipping through her book. "This couch is more than big enough for the two of us and the red chair isn't as comfortable."

"Why don't you go spend time with your friends?"

Granger sighed and closed the book. "Because, Harry and Ron are at the Burrow and Jule went back to the States to see her parents. It's just you and me, baby, get used to it."

Draco shuddered in horror and drew himself up into a small ball at his end of the couch, as far away from Granger as possible, and stared once more into the flames. They sat like that for quite some time, Granger reading her book and Draco staring at nothing.

They spent several days like that, sitting in the common room, neither speaking to the other, each wrapped up in their own individual thoughts completely ignoring the other and only leaving the common room for meals or when Granger needed a new book. At least, that's how Draco saw it. Although she was busy reading or doing homework Hermione was constantly aware of her silent companion, wishing they could converse with the ease they could have had he thought she was May. But May was gone, at least for now, and Draco hated Hermione. There was nothing she could do but pretend to keep busy and to secretly watch him out of the corner of her eye.

By Christmas Eve Hermione was thoroughly sick of the silence. It was evening and both of them were in the common room, as usual, Hermione reading a book and Draco trying to play wizard's chess by himself, failing horribly. Hermione thought she would explode from boredom. Tossing down her book she stood and marched over to where Draco sat on a pile of pillows before the fire.

"Look," she ground out. "I know you hate me, but it's Christmas Eve and I'm bored silly, so can we just call a truce and play wizard's chess together or something, because if I can't talk to anyone I think I'll go crazy."

"Crazier," Draco drawled. Then he relented, shrugging and gesturing towards the half-played game. "Join me then."

Hermione didn't really want to play chess. It was probably the only thing she was really, really terrible at and she didn't want to let him beat her. But it was either this or nothing so she nodded and sat.

They played; Hermione lost. Laughing in pleasure at her defeat Draco warmed up a bit. "You really are a pitiful chess player Granger," he chuckled. "Why did you even bother playing; you must have known how dreadful you are."

Hermione, blushing, smiled. "It was the only thing I could think of to get you to talk to me. I was so bored I'd do anything for any kind of human contact, or ferret for that matter."

Draco colored angrily before realizing she was still smiling good-naturedly. "Ferret jokes, is it?" He smiled back. "Alright buckteeth."

Hermione gasped in mock-rage. "That was years ago, thank you very much, and my teeth are perfect now!" Just to let him know she grinned broadly at him.

They laughed together for a moment. "Granger," Draco abruptly said seriously. "Before you said you knew I hated you. Does that mean that you don't hate me back?"

Hermione struggled for a moment. Of course she didn't hate him she lo-she liked him a lot. "No, I don't hate you," she finally managed. "I don't know if I did before, maybe, but I know that I don't hate you now." Meekly she added, "Do you really hate me?"

Draco seemed almost taken aback. After a moment's though he responded, "No, I guess I don't really hate you either. I know I must have before, because you were smarter than me and you were always first in our class and my father blamed me for not being as good as a muggle born witch. That's why I always called you mudblood. But no, I don't hate you anymore either."

There was a moment of silence. "Well, what should we do now?" Hermione finally asked.

"I'd say, since neither of us hates the other, it would be as good a time as any to celebrate by getting smashed," Draco answered conversationally. Hermione merely raised an eyebrow as he pulled a silver flask out of his pocket. "I was going to drink this alone later, but there's plenty for the both of us."

"Thanks," Hermione took the proffered flask, downing a shot. It was whisky. Making a slight face she cleared her burning throat and handed the flask back.

"My pleasure," Draco took the flask and took a big swig. Soon they were both very drunk.

"So, Draco," Hermione slurred conversationally. "Why'd you stop hating me, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Don't worry Granger, I mean Hermione," Draco slurred right back. "I have no idea why I stopped hating you. I don't even know when. But today, when you asked me, I just realized that I don't hate you. Why'd you stop hating me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Hermione swallowed some more whisky, emptying the flask. She handed the flask back to Draco who threw it behind him before regarding her blearily.

"You know," he hiccoughed. "I this light, you kind of look like someone I know."

"Who?" Hermione leaned forward interestedly.

"You don't know her," he leaned forward as well. "She doesn't go here. My girlfriend, May."

"Really," Hermione leaned even closer, all sense of boundaries eliminated by the whisky in her stomach. Their noses were now almost touching.

"Yes." Draco leaned in more, closing the distance between the two of them and kissing Hermione hard on the mouth. She kissed back, drunkenly grabbing at his arms and pulling him towards her so that she was lying down on the floor with him on top of her. The clock rang midnight and Draco pulled away. "Happy Christmas!" He exclaimed, kissing her again.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hermione woke the next morning with a hangover lying naked next to Draco in front of the fireplace.

"Oh shit," she muttered.

Preview:

"Your girlfriend," Hermione snapped. "Will you tell her that you slept with me?"

"I don't know."


	13. Love Quadrilateral

1Chapter 13: Love Quadrilateral

"Oh shit," Hermione muttered.

Draco shifted in his sleep and Hermione cast an anxious look at him. He was smiling slightly, looking cute and angelic and sexy all at the same time like he always did in his sleep. A bit of silvery-blond hair hung over his face, framing it perfectly. Hermione felt her uneasiness slipping away as she gazed at him, but then she remembered the circumstances that had brought her to this morning and she frowned once more. Carefully extricating herself from Draco's clutching arms Hermione ran softly into her room.

Ignoring the pile of presents at the foot of her bed, Hermione flopped down on the bed and covered her face. What was she going to do? She had just helped her boyfriend cheat on her with herself. Damn this multiple personality stuff was confusing. She cursed herself for being so foolish; as if life weren't complicated enough, now she was involved in a love triangle of which she was two of the members.

Then there was Draco. To think that he would cheat on her! And she had trusted him! This raised the whole question of whether or not he had been cheating on her, or would be likely to cheat on her in the future with someone who didn't happen to be her secret identity or alter-ego.

Something had to be done. One of them had to come clean. If Draco told her (as May) that he had slept with someone else then maybe she would continue things as she had been. If Draco didn't tell her that he had cheated on her then the only way of telling him that she knew would almost certainly reveal who she really was. And what if Draco tried to lie to her about it? Then what would she do?

The sanest thing, of course, would be to stop all the lying and admit that she was both Hermione and May. At least that would stop the confusion. But how does one tell someone they care about that their entire relationship was a lie?

Hermione was not having a very good Christmas.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Draco woke up when a chill alerted him to the fact that he was naked and alone. Without May's body heat he must have gotten cold. As soon as Draco opened his eyes he realized something was off. For one thing he was lying completely nude in front of the fireplace in the common room with an empty flask a few feet away. For another thing May was no where to be seen.

Then the evening before came back to him. He had slept with Granger. Draco had cheated on May with Granger. Not only was he screwed, it seemed he was crazy to boot.

_Why? _He couldn't help asking himself._ Why the hell would I blow everything for one drunken night with Granger? Why would I risk everything with May for one illicit shag that probably wasn't any good considering how drunk we were? What am I going to tell May?_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hermione finally left her room an hour later, fully clothed and frowning. Draco was waiting for her, sitting morosely in the center of the couch staring at his clasped hands which he held limply in his lap.

"Um, Draco?" She said quietly.

"Granger," Draco's head sprang up and he stared at her in surprise. He looked slightly wild-eyed and upset. That at least was comforting.

A small part of Hermione cringed at being addressed by her last-name once more. She took a deep breath and continued anyway. "Malfoy, then," she muttered. Continuing more loudly she said: "We need to talk about what happened."

"No, I really don't think we should," Draco jumped up and started pacing around.

They were silent for a moment.

"I have a girlfriend!" Draco finally blurted. "You know that, right?"

Hermione nodded, _more than you know_, she thought.

"So you know that last night didn't—can't—mean anything?"

Hermione nodded again. Another moment of silence ensued.

"Will you tell her?" Hermione asked, startling Draco from his nervous pacing.

"Huh?"

"Your girlfriend," Hermione snapped. "Will you tell her that you slept with me?"

"Why do you care?"

Hermione didn't have a good answer for that. "I just do, all right?" She finally spat out. "So will you?"

"I don't know," Draco chewed on his lip nervously. "I know I should tell her, I know that I don't want to lie to her," he paused. "But I also don't want to lose her and who would stay after being cheated on?"

Hermione frowned. _If you don't tell me then you will lose me,_ she thought angrily. "I just think you should tell her, ok? You never know what people's reactions might be."

Draco just shrugged.

Hermione started to make her way towards the portrait to leave this awkward situation behind. Turning back to face Draco when she reached the portrait, Hermione threw one last question back at Draco. "Do you love her?"

Draco seemed to struggle with himself for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe I do. Maybe I could."

"If there's even a chance that you do or could or someday will, you should be honest with her. You can't have a relationship with love in it based on a lie." And with that Hermione left Draco to think.

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Hermione didn't know whether to be excited that the break was over or depressed. True, she would have company other than Draco, but she would face telling Jule the story and the return of "May" would test Draco and Hermione's relationship. There was no question in her mind that she would tell Jule what had happened. She had to tell someone; the truth was eating her alive.

So when everyone finally did return to school and Jule made her way to the Head Common Room to greet Hermione, Hermione was in tears. The story tumbled from her lips in a rather disorganized way starting with, "Draco cheated on me!" and ending on, "Do you think he'll tell me that we slept together?"

Jule regarded Hermione in silence for a moment, taking in her friend's tear-streaked face and trembling lip, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Hermione's jaw dropped in horrified outrage.

"Can you gasp imagine," Jule was choking out. "Having gasp your boyfriend gasp cheat on gasp you with gasp you?" She dissolved into giggles once more. "It's just so ridiculous!"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something scathing but hesitated. It was ridiculous. Hermione smiled a little, then grinned, then burst into giggles herself. "I'm so STUPID!" She yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks even as she laughed. Then she was just crying again. Jule tried to comfort her, despite her own hysterical laughter, but Hermione just pushed her away.

"It is funny, I guess," Hermione said after she had recovered from her hysteria. "But it could also mean the end of my bloody relationship, fucked up as it may be. I've never been this close to someone. I've never _really_ dated before. What should I do?"

"Well why the fuck are you asking me?" Jule exploded, past her own hysterical laughing now. "What in all the, granted limited, time that you've known me would suggest that I would know the answer? I don't date, I've never really dated. People don't want me; they want sex, so that's exactly what I give them. And I don't want them either. Sex, I understand sex, but actually caring about people, the way you so obviously care about Malfoy, what the fuck do I know about that?"

"I didn't mean—"

"Just shut up Hermione."

"I think I might love him."

There was a moment of tense silence. "Why are you telling me that," Jule eventually spat out.

"Who else can I tell?" Hermione whispered. "I can't tell Harry or Ron; hell, I barely ever talk to them anymore. And I definitely can't tell Draco."

"You're out of your fucking mind," Jule headed towards the door.

"Why are you getting so pissed off?" Hermione yelled, grabbing Jule's arm and pulling her back.

"Why am I so pissed off? Maybe because I'm just as crazy as you are, you idiot!" Jule yelled back, practically spitting into Hermione's face. Then she did something that Hermione had not been expecting. She grabbed Hermione by the back of her head and pulled her into a very heated kiss.

Hermione had to admit to herself that it wasn't a bad kiss. She hadn't expected it; hell she hadn't even imagined that it was a possibility. But the kiss was definitely not bad.

When Jule finally released Hermione she was so confused and flustered that all she could do was collapse onto her own bed and stare in shock at Jule.

"But, you're my friend. And you made out with Harry." She didn't know what she was saying, but it occurred to Hermione that words were leaving her mouth.

Jule stared at her levelly. "Ron too. And just about everyone else in this funny farm. And I am your friend, but—"

"What?"

"I like you Hermione." Jule was looking down. "I'm not just attracted to you, I mean, I am attracted to you, but that's not all. I actually care about what you say, and how you feel, and the fact that you seem to be falling in love with Malfoy. 'Cause, I think that I'm falling in love with you, and I've never felt that way about anybody, boy or girl."

For one of the few times in her life Hermione Granger was speechless. She had absolutely no idea how to handle this. To her knowledge no one had ever been in love with her before.

"Jule," she paused. "I don't know what to tell you. I've never thought of you that way. I've never really thought of any girl that way. Then again, I've never really thought of many men that way either. But even if I was gay, or bi, or anything, you're my friend, and we've gotten pretty close and now, I don't know, it seems like it would be like kissing Harry or Ron. I just don't know what to do."

"Don't worry Hermione," Jule spat. "You don't have to do anything." And with that she marched from the room, slamming the door behind her.

The love triangle was now a love quadrilateral.

Preview: "You're Hermione Granger. You're a smug know-it-all with one hand in the air and the other turning the pages of a book. You know everything and you love to show off how much you know. Sometimes you can be bossy and judgmental and superior, and sometimes you can be sweet and sensitive and understanding."

A/N: Don't hate me if you don't like this chapter, but a lot of shit is coming together and I just want to get it all out of the way. And I know it's short, but shit happens.


	14. Rediscovery

1Chapter 14: Rediscovery

Hermione left the common room in a daze. She roamed through the castle, unsure of where she should go. She passed the Library numbly, thinking of how once that would have been her haven, the quiet place where she could read and think. She had hardly gone in there this year, and only to study for a class. She no longer relaxed in the comforting silence and order of the Library, no longer sought such solitude. It was with some sadness that she realized just how much this year had changed her.

It was already they second semester. Classes would begin again the next day, and what would she be? The irritating know-it-all, anxious to display her knowledge, or the stranger punk-rocker who sang in seedy night-clubs? There were only two people who she could turn to for the help she needed.

Turning away from the Library Hermione marched confidently through the halls, pointed steadily towards the portrait of the fat lady and Gryffindor Tower.

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Harry and Ron lounged in the Gryffindor Common Room, absently playing a game of wizard's chess while trying, albeit not particularly hard, to study. The thought did not even cross their minds to seek Hermione's help with their homework; she barely even talked to them anymore. So it was that Harry and Ron were rather surprised when their old friend burst into the common room, looking close to tears.

"Hermione!" Harry jumped up from his seat, accidentally banging his leg against the table and sending the chess-pieces skittering across the floor. Normally Ron would have berated him for this carelessness with his, Ron's, prized possessions, but Ron was also too busy gaping at Hermione.

Hermione lost the battle she had been fighting within herself and burst into tears. She was quickly engulfed by the large arms of Harry, while Ron awkwardly tried to pat her back.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry was full of concern. "Don't cry; I'm sure it'll be okay."

Hermione merely continued to cry. Held in the arms of her oldest friend all she could think about was how far apart the Golden Trio had drifted over the past few months. A friendship she had thought would last forever had been so easily shaken and a girl who had always known who she was had lost herself.

"I've ruined everything," Hermione mumbled into Harry's chest.

"No, that can't be true," Harry rubbed her back, gently kissing her forehead.

"But it is," Hermione sobbed. "It is, it is, it is…"

"Come on, Mione, tell us what's wrong," Ron said somewhat awkwardly. "Maybe we can help."

The sound of her old, slightly irritating, nickname brought more tears to choke in Hermione's throat. After a moment she could speak again.

"It's Jule," she started. "She's—she's—"

"What?" Ron demanded, a little too abruptly.

"She's in love with me!" Hermione burst out.

The boys looked at each other. They didn't know whether to laugh or not. The idea that Jule was in love with their friend was rather ridiculous and entertaining, but Hermione was clearly extremely distressed. Choosing his words carefully Harry formulated a question.

"And do you feel the same way about," he hesitated. "Her?"

"What?" Hermione seemed surprised. "Of course not, I have a boyfriend."

That shocked the boys. Harry, who was better at hiding his emotions than Ron, merely raised a confused eyebrow. Ron's jaw dropped and stayed open, every now and then quivering slightly.

"Since when?" Ron eventually demanded, recovering.

"Who?" Harry wanted to know.

"It's not important and it's really not any of your business," Hermione responded tartly, berating herself for betraying her secret. "The point is that everything is falling apart. I don't know what to do about Jule."

"Just let her know how you feel," Harry predicted sagely. "Don't lead her on. But let her down gently."

"That's what I did," Hermione sighed. "The real problem is that I don't know who I am anymore."

"You're you," Ron replied simply. "You're Hermione Granger. You're a smug know-it-all with one hand in the air and the other turning the pages of a book. You know everything and you love to show off how much you know. Sometimes you can be bossy and judgmental and superior, and sometimes you can be sweet and sensitive and understanding. You're our friend, our other half."

The tears were starting again, but Hermione blinked them away to smile at Ron. "There are three of us Ron; if anything I'm your other third."

"You know what I mean," Ron grinned, proud to have made Hermione smile through her tears. She pulled away from Harry to hug Ron, adoring his foolishly childlike manner and face.

"Maybe you were right, Harry," she murmured. "Maybe we can fix everything."

Since Hermione was already in the Gryffindor Common Room she decided that it was worth it to talk to Jule. She slowly made her way up the staircase leading to the girl's dorms, conscious of Harry and Ron's watching her supportively.

Never had the climb up those stairs seemed longer in Hermione's life, and she had climbed them hundreds of times. When at last she came to the seventh years' room, which had previously been her own room, she knocked cautiously. No one answered.

Hermione cautiously pushed the door open and it swung wide with a creak. But the room was empty.

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Hermione trudged slowly back to her own room. The visit with Harry and Ron had cheered her a bit, but she couldn't remember ever being this tired before. All she wanted was to sleep and never wake up…

Draco was in the common room, awake and staring into the fire. He had clearly been waiting for her.

"What?" Hermione demanded without preamble.

"I'm not going to tell her," Draco responded equally brusquely.

Hermione could feel the tears welling in her eyes again, but she blinked them back. She couldn't let Draco see her cry. "That's your decision," she managed to choke out before hurrying into her room and locking the door. Carefully casting a silencing charm, Hermione threw herself onto her bed and sobbed.

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Draco wondered vaguely what was wrong with Granger. He was the one who had cheated on his girlfriend and was now forced to lie about it. As far as he knew Granger didn't have a boyfriend, and she clearly wasn't a lesbian with the new girl after what had happened on Christmas Eve. Maybe she had hoped that he would leave May for her. That was ridiculous of course. Now that Draco and Hermione had set aside their difference he was willing to admit that she wasn't ugly and there were certain attractive things about her personality. But he loved May and nothing would make him leave her.

Granger would just have to work out her own problems. Draco was busy with his own.

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Hermione knew what was coming. She knew that Draco would lie to her and she knew that she couldn't be with him anymore. It wasn't so much that he had cheated on her; after all he had cheated on her with herself. It was that he would cover it up.

Sleeping with Hermione, or May, under an assumed identity was one thing. It was only natural that they would be drawn towards one another, no matter what Hermione said her name was or how she dressed. But the fact that he would lie about it meant that it wasn't just that she was both May and Hermione and thus cheating on May with Hermione was forgivable. Lying about it meant that Draco would be naturally inclined to cheat with anyone, and that was unacceptable.

Hermione steeled herself. She was dressed as May, all in black as always, but for once the dark clothing actually reflected her mood. Her hair hung in long black ringlets down her back and her face was paler than she usually made it. Although her lipstick was bright red her eye shadow was completely black and she wore no blush, which when contrasted with her unnaturally pale skin made her look gaunt and sickly.

Hermione stood backstage in the club. She would perform one last time, quit the band, break up with Draco, and bury May for good. It was as simple as that.

Taking a deep breath Hermione stepped onstage to join the rest of the band. She and Tom exchanged a sad smile. She had told him she was moving back to Paris.

The crowd went wild and Hermione was filled with the now familiar surge of adrenaline, fear, and excitement she always got when performing on stage. The crowd screamed as she approached her magical microphone to speak into it. Her eyes scanned the crowd and picked out Draco's pale face, his eyes nearly as miserable as her own. Hermione felt her throat go dry. She cleared it quietly.

"How's everyone tonight?" She asked the crowd in a sultry tone. They screamed their enthusiasm. "That's good. Before we start the show I guess I need to tell all of you something important," she continued, sounding much more confident and secure than she felt. "Tonight will be my final performance with the band." There were groans and shouts of protest. Draco looked stunned. Good. "Yep, I'm sorry to say it, but my time on the stage is over. But hey, there's still tonight," Hermione smiled seductively. "Let's make it the best night it can be, eh?" The crowd cheered. Hermione started to sing.

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Draco burst into the dressing room after the band had finished. Hermione was waiting for him on the sofa.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded. "Why did you quit?"

"I'm leaving Draco," Hermione answered hollowly. "I'm moving back to Paris. I realized that I missed it there and that I belong there. Good-bye." She wouldn't meet his eyes. She knew that she would cry if she met his eyes.

Draco looked like he had just been punched in the stomach. "What?" He gasped. "You're leaving? You can't leave; I need you! I love you, May!"

Hermione stilled looked down. "I love you too, Draco." She felt a tear sliding down her face. "But I have to leave. I can't be here any longer." She stood to go, to escape, to be anywhere but in that room with him.

"No, you can't!" Draco grabbed her arm. "Why are you doing this to me? Did you meet someone else?" He demanded, hating himself the moment the words left his lips. The disgust in the look Hermione shot him gave her away. "You know, don't you?" Draco stepped back, almost falling. "You know what happened with Granger, don't you?"

Hermione looked down. "Yes."

"But…how?"

"I just know."

"Oh."

"I really do love you Draco," Hermione finally looked directly at him, her pain in her face as tears streamed silently down her cheeks. "I would have done anything to be with you. I even would have forgiven you if you had told me. But you didn't, so I couldn't. It's over."

Draco was getting desperate. "How do you know I wasn't going to tell you?" He lied. Her look made him look down guiltily. "I just couldn't do it," he mumbled. When he looked back at her face Hermione saw that his eyes were oddly shiny and bright. "I thought that if you knew what I did that you would leave me for sure."

"Well I guess you never really knew me," Hermione answered blithely. Inwardly she knew that he never really knew her because she never let him know the real her. "I can't stay here." She moved to walk past him.

Draco didn't let her. Grabbing her by the shoulders he pulled her into his arms and kissed her sharply. She let herself melt into his arms, still crying, only for a moment before pulling away and running from the room.

Draco stared out the open door after her, his cheeks soaked with tears, although he never knew for sure if they were his or May's.

That was the day that May died.

A/N: Don't worry, this is not the end! There are still more chapters and I've already decided to make a sequel. It's another old story of mine with several plot holes that I plan to merge with this one into a sequel. So no worries! Also apologies about the shortness and angstyness of this chapter. It had to be done for the sake of the story.

Preview: Hermione wanted to laugh and cry and yell, in happiness or anger, all at once. How different and yet similar everything was.


	15. New Relations

1Before I begin this chapter let me just say that the review I received from Louie was the best review I have ever gotten. Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoy the story.

Chapter 15: New Relations

Hermione retreated to her room. She left occasionally, of course, to go to classes and meals and the like. But she was distracted during class and she picked listlessly at her food during meals. She was depressed.

Harry and Ron didn't know the entire situation and Hermione was unwilling to tell them, but they tried to be supportive. Jule had vanished. Hermione caught sight of her every now and then, and she was always in class, but she would never look at, speak to, or even acknowledge Hermione. Every time that Hermione tried to talk to her Jule was already gone.

Draco seemed equally depressed, which made Hermione feel a little better. He too moped from class to class and hid in his room at all other times. His eyes were always red, his face was pale, and he seemed to be thinner. Looking into mirrors Hermione realized that she looked similar.

The first day back to class Snape gave out grades for the potions project. Even Hermione' and Draco's A was clouded with despair.

The week after Hermione killed May was the longest week she had ever been through. There was no Draco to be with, no Jule to laugh with, and no band practice. Life was empty. It was a huge relief when the weekend finally arrived and Hermione could simply stay in bed all day.

Waking at noon was nice. Hermione rarely slept so late, even on the weekends, and it was a pleasant change. She stretched, breathed deeply, started to smile and burst into tears. Now was the time for mourning.

Hermione barely moved for hours, only occasionally shifting position or moving to grab a tissue. She cried intermittently. Every now and then the tears stopped, she started to breathe again, and the tears returned. That was Saturday.

Sunday started out the same way, but eventually the tears stopped for good around five o'clock. Hermione couldn't go back to sleep and she felt no compulsion to venture out into the real world. Hoping to dispel her boredom at least, Hermione crept out to the common room to retrieve a book she had left there.

Passing Draco's room Hermione heard deep, heaving breaths, something close to sobs. Draco had not had the foresight to cast a silencing charm upon his room.

Hermione slowly inched closer to the door until she was right next to it. Pressing her ear to the door she listened to Draco's grief. Her own tears started again. She didn't know how long she sat there, but at length she heard Draco move and she rushed back to her own room.

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Another week dragged by. Time didn't really have any meaning anymore; what does time matter when you have nothing to look forward to? Hermione was vaguely aware that she was slipping into a deep depression, but she didn't particularly care. By the next Saturday all she wanted was to sleep away her troubles.

So she slept. Hermione slept for hours and hours. She slept until it was humanly impossible to sleep any longer. It was 1:00 at night on Saturday (Sunday really) when she woke up and could sleep no longer. She paced back and forth impatiently.

At last she decided that she had to leave, had to get out of that room. She didn't care where she went, she just needed to escape. She threw on a sweater and pulled the door open.

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Draco, on the other hand, had slept very little. He could not really sleep for more than a few moments, let alone for hours at a time. He stormed about the common room with nothing to do but pace. At last, a little past one, he decided to knock on Granger's door. At the very least he could annoy her into fighting with him. He marched up to the door and was lifting his hand to knock when the door flew open.

Hermione took in Draco's raised hand and shocked expression in an instant.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, not caring that she sounded rude.

"Um, I couldn't sleep," Draco tried to explain. "And you?"

"The same," Hermione murmured. "I was about to get some fresh air."

Draco nodded but did not move. Hermione tried to edge past him through her doorway, but that only ended up with them being very close together. Hermione felt heat radiating off of Draco's body as she gazed into his burning gray eyes. He stared straight back. And then they were kissing, and Draco was closing the door behind them as she led him to her bed. Hermione vaguely reflected that they had never had sex in her bed before. Clothing was swiftly discarded as Draco kissed down Hermione's neck and Hermione ran her hands all over Draco's body. And then Draco was in her and Hermione wanted to laugh and cry and yell, in happiness or anger, all at once. How different and yet similar everything was.

She looked into Draco's eyes and was frightened by what she saw there. Lust, grief, and something akin to rage or hatred. Draco had never looked at her that way, not even when he thought she was just Granger and called her mudblood. She had never seen something like that anywhere before and it terrified her. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the look, but she could still see it; it was permanently etched into her memory.

When it was over Draco stayed on top of her for a moment. She opened her eyes again and gazed into those deep, soulful pools of gray. The hatred was gone, as was the lust, and only grief remained. Hermione opened her mouth to say something but could find no words. Draco rolled onto the side of her and turned away.

After several moments of silence Hermione cleared her throat and spoke. "I guess you broke up with your girlfriend, huh?"

Draco was still turned away from her. He shrugged his shoulders irresolutely. Suddenly Hermione felt angry. Had he gotten over her so fast? And did he think that he could just use her now?

"So you're just cheating on her then?" She demanded hotly, realizing just how crazy she was. "You're still with your girlfriend, but you're willing to use me on the side, is that it?"

"She dumped me." Draco ground out. "I tried to fool her but she knew; somehow she could tell. So she said that it was over and that she was moving to Paris." It sounded like he was crying.

Hermione didn't know whether she was relieved or not. Clearly, then, he did care about her. But he was also willing to use her for sex to make himself feel better. But wasn't that what she was doing? Except he was more honest about it and she was just a liar about everything.

Deciding to comfort him Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder. He shuddered slightly from the touch. Then he turned and buried himself in her arms. Her face automatically nestled itself into his neck and she inhaled his sent. The familiar smell brought back so many memories. She never wanted to stop holding him like this.

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Monday returned eventually, but not until Draco and Hermione had had sex again, this time in Draco's room. Hermione knew it was stupid and wrong to do, but the time she spent with Draco was the only time that she didn't feel completely empty. And the emptiness was unbearable.

Hermione returned to class. Although still quiet, she had regained a fraction of her old interest and was even taking notes again. At breakfast she had no appetite, but at lunch she was able to eat an entire roll and at dinner she had baked potato. She was started to come back to life, and Hermione savored the joy of feeling again. But that night she was with Draco again, cursing her own weakness even as she succumbed to the guilty pleasure of Draco's body.

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On Tuesday Hermione managed to corner Jule. Borrowing Harry's map of the castle, Hermione had stalked Jule between classes until she had her trapped in the girl's washroom on the third floor.

Jule was washing her hands as Hermione entered the room. All the stalls were empty and Jule and Hermione were alone for the first time since Jule's confession. Hermione locked the door behind her. "We need to talk," she began, slowly walking towards Jule.

"No, we really, really don't," Jule tried to edge past Hermione but failed. "I think it would be better if we never spoke again."

"I disagree."

"Well, sucks for you."

"Jule, you're my best friend!" Hermione exploded. "Don't abandon me, especially now."

"Why now?" Jule didn't really seem very interested.

"I broke up with Draco."

Surprise and hope flashed through Jule's eyes. She looked into Hermione's face, meeting her gaze for the first time in more than two weeks. The look there took Hermione's breath away. Was that what she looked like when she looked at Draco? The intense longing and affection were clear.

"Jule, I..."

"Shhhhhh," Jule placed a finger on Hermione's lips. "Don't be scared." She leaned in and just as her lips were brushing Hermione's Hermione returned to her senses and pulled away.

"Jule that's not what I meant," she rebuked softly. "What I meant was you're my _friend_ and I need your _friendship_ right now. That's all." Hermione had to look away from Jule's eyes. The look in them threatened to swallow her alive. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Everyone's always just so goddamned sorry, aren't they?" Jule exploded. "Well some things can't be cured with 'I'm sorry', do you understand that?"

"Yes."

"Then don't fucking apologize! If you were really sorry you would just leave me the hell alone!" And with that Jule shoved Hermione out of the way, unlocked the door, and stormed into the hallway. Hermione couldn't stop herself from following.

"Jule, wait," Hermione gasped out.

"Don't follow me!" Jule spun around, drawing her wand. Before Hermione could think she had been blasted back; not hard enough to hurt her, of course, just hard enough to give Jule time to change into a bat and flap away.

Hermione stopped trying to talk to Jule after that.

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Because of Jule' and Hermione's falling out there had been no animagus lessons in a while. Draco had previously been too distracted to notice, but their nights together seemed to have been helping him as much as they had helped Hermione. When Wednesday arrived he asked Hermione where "the weird American" was.

"We had a fight," Hermione tried to sound casual. "She's been avoiding me."

"What, did you two have a lover's spat?" Draco asked cheekily, smirking irritatingly at Hermione. Hermione's only response was to give him a look clearly saying: watch your tongue or no sex for you. He grinned in response, the first real smile Hermione had seen on his face since she broke up with him. "We'd best tell McGonagle then, eh?"

Hermione shrugged.

"Of course," Draco continued casually. "We don't have to tell her right now. We could just wait till tomorrow morning..."

Hermione looked at him, recognizing the look in his eye. "I don't see why not." She responded, equally relaxed. "I mean, I'm sure we can find something else to do tonight." Without another word she stood and, giving Draco a meaningful look, headed into her bedroom. He followed without comment.

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Taking time to reflect on the turn her relationship with Draco had taken, Hermione didn't know what to think. They weren't friends, and they weren't dating, and she would never call them lovers. Hermione and Draco were more along the line of fuck-buddies, but she thought that term was crude, and it evoked memories of Jule and her carefree sexuality. But that was what they were. What had begun as comfort had turned into rebound which had in turn become this strange relationship.

All Hermione could say for sure was that things were definitely different. Although there was none of the previous depth she had shared with Draco, there was a new lightness and sense of liberty. There were no lies, no deceit, no appearance altering charms. For the first time in her life Hermione was merely herself. She no longer posed as another person, nor did she erect her usual defenses around Draco. Perhaps because they were so close and yet so far, Hermione did not feel the need to hide herself from Draco any longer. If she had a thought she spoke it, not caring what his reaction would be, although she loved to make him laugh.

They did that more now. Laughing. They could genuinely enjoy each others company. Of course, they fought too, but Hermione doubted that would ever change. No matter how long she might know Draco, or how deeply she might fall in love with him, it would always be a special pleasure to infuriate him. She knew he felt the same way.

It was now a month since the breakup and the death of May. Hermione and Draco slept together every night, sometimes in his room, sometimes in hers, sometimes in the common room. There was little tenderness, but there was fun. In a different life Hermione and Draco might have even become friends.

But they were not friends, nor lovers, nor anything real. Hermione had to keep reminding herself of that; Draco was using her and she was using him. It was about comfort and pleasure, not about feelings. But whenever she reminded herself of their peculiar relationship Hermione could not help but feel unclean and depressed. So she tried not to think about it.

It would already be too late when Hermione realized the folly of her actions.

TBC...

Preview: "So," Hermione's voice cracked slightly. "We won't ever be friends again, will we?"

"I don't know," Jule answered honestly. "Maybe someday. I can't see the future. But not now. I just need time away from you."

REVIEW PLEASE!


	16. Rock and Roll Suicide

1Okay, so I'm skipping a couple of months. Nothing important happens within those months and I'm getting anxious about getting this story done. So, yeah.

Chapter 16: Rock and Roll Suicide

Hermione sat with Harry and Ron, munching happily on a sandwich as Harry ate hungrily and Ron basically inhaled his food. It was late March and Hermione could feel spring approaching. Soon it would be April and then May...

Hermione stopped eating suddenly. She quickly scanned the crowded Great Hall rapidly before falling upon a head of golden hair. Sensing her gaze the head lifted and grey eyes met brown. Draco smirked slightly at her before winking and licking his lips comically. Hermione forced herself to smile back.

May had been dead for almost three months. Hermione hadn't thought of her in almost two. She hoped Draco hadn't either, but it was hard to tell what he was thinking at any given time. He had been extremely open with May, but he remained slightly secretive with Hermione. They were on fairly friendly speaking terms, and Hermione kept few secrets (except those about the past) from Draco, but he rarely told her anything of significance. The only thing non-May related that Hermione would not tell Draco was that her mother was from France. That could lead to trouble.

Thoughts of May invariably led to thoughts of Jule. Hermione glanced down the table at Jule. She was as far away from Hermione as was humanly possible without falling off of the bench. She looked thin, pale, and sickly. Hermione worried about her as she often did. Was Jule eating or sleeping at all? She certainly looked as though she wasn't. Hermione still attempted to speak with Jule on occasion, but every time that she did Jule was already flapping away in bat form.

Ever since McGonagle had begun to train them Hermione and Draco had been developing quickly as animagi. As it turned out it was considerably more complicated than Jule had made it seem, but having a natural-born animagus as a teacher could only result in such a thing. Being born able to change almost made Jule the equivalent of being born half-bat. The shape was as natural to her as breathing. Hermione and Draco, on the other hand, had the potential to change, but not the innate ability. They needed training.

McGonagle taught them that about all they had to do was concentrate and focus on the details. In order to become a lioness Hermione had to know every tiny detail of a lioness's body right down to the whiskers. This required practice. If even one detail was off by the least the entire transformation would be ruined. This often resulted in hilarity.

During one such incident Hermione had gotten distracted by the way Draco's hair fell into his eyes as she was changing and she had accidentally turned into a half-human half-lion creature similar to a sphinx. Draco had laughed unkindly. For revenge Hermione had until waited McGonagle's back was turned and he was trying to change and then had flashed him. He had turned into a creature with a human body and a wolf head. This was less funny and more horrifying, because there is absolutely no place in nature for an animal like that.

But even if Jule's absence meant Hermione was closer to a successful transformation than ever, Hermione could find no joy in the loss of Jule. Jule might as well be as dead as May as far as her interactions with Hermione went. For that matter Jule looked practically dead.

"Have you guys spoken to Jule at all lately?" Hermione asked the boys.

Ron, too busy eating to speak, merely shook his head and looked at Harry. Harry hesitated.

"Harry?" Hermione prompted.

"Well, um," Harry paused. "A little bit."

"A little bit? What the hell does that mean?"

"What he means," Ron swallowed his mouthful. "Is that every now and then Jule bursts into tears and won't let anyone but Harry near her."

"What! Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione demanded.

"She told me not to," Harry glared at Ron. "But I guess Ron was too busy choking down his food to notice."

Ron turned pink.

"What has she been telling you?"

"Lot's of things," Harry sipped his pumpkin juice nervously. "Mostly that she's really sad and..."

"And?"

"Well, sometimes she threatens to, y'know, maybe hurt herself."

"WHAT!"

"She hasn't yet," Harry protested weakly.

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Have you spoken to McGonagle at all?" She ground out. She drew her own conclusions from Harry's long silence. "I'm going to kill you Harry."

"She told me not to say anything! What was I supposed to do, just go tattle on her?"

"Harry, I love you dearly, but you really can be such an idiot sometimes."

"Yeah, Harry," Ron smirked smugly.

"Don't get me started on you too," Hermione snapped.

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Hermione's plan was simple. Since Jule would not talk to Hermione, Hermione would simply have to disguise herself somehow. Hermione's first impulse was to brew some polyjuice, but that would take far too long. Instead Hermione experienced a moment of clarity in which she realized that she already knew what to do.

Carefully considering the charms that she already knew Hermione gazed at her reflection in the mirror. One charm she knew would change the color of her eyes and another would change the length and color of her hair. The charm to change her face was a little longer because she had to alter her entire facial structure and skin color. She did not, however, know a charm to change the appearance of her body. Sh thought for a long time. The original charms were all in Latin, so by substituting the word for face with the word for body in the face spell she might be able to change her body's appearance as well. She would also have to make herself look taller, but that could be easily accomplished by wearing shoes with platforms and a spell cast upon her feet to make lookers reluctant to inspect her feet thoroughly.

After about thirty minutes of trial and failure Hermione had accomplished her goal. The biggest challenge had not been her body, as she had thought it would be, but the creation of a lightning shaped scar on her forehead identical to Harry's. Harry's scar was distinctive and was unlike any other scar ever created. Hermione had once done some testing on Harry's scar out of curiosity and had learned that part of it's individuality was due to its magical scar tissue. The failure of the killing curse had done strange things to the molecular structure of Harry's skin, creating his scar without ever actually breaking his skin. Because it was so complex it was hard to duplicate the appearance. It was also, however, completely necessary. The image of Harry's scar was so well-known that any even slightly imperfect replica would be an obvious fake. It was now that Hermione's new-found attention to detail came in most handy.

At last Hermione's transition was complete. As she inspected her reflection she saw not Hermione or May, but Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived.

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May sat on her bed, legs crossed Indian-style, staring blankly ahead of her. She wasn't thinking about anything in particular, but merely reflecting on how dark everything was now. Life had never been perfect; dead-beat parents, destroyed school, general low self-esteem which she boosted with pointless sex. But none of that hurt as much as falling in love did. Jule could now see why she had always avoided the affliction so carefully.

A knock at the door stopped her mind from wandering. Clearing her dry throat, Jule rasped out: "It's unlocked."

The door opened and Harry came in. "Mind if I come in?"

Jule nodded, scrutinizing her friend. It looked like Harry, and it certainly sounded like Harry, but something was off. Deciding to wait it out Jule stayed silent.

"How are you feeling today?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Jule on the bed. "Anything you want to talk about?"

Jule shrugged. "You're the one who wanted to talk to me. Anything you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"Thanks, Hermione. I'm glad you care."

Harry smiled wryly. "Didn't fool you for a second, did I?"

"Your charms are good, and your performance was very convincing, but you forgot two things."

"What was that?" Hermione tried to sound casual, hoping to keep Jule talking.

"First of all you forgot that boys aren't allowed in the girl's tower. The stairs turn into a slide. I figured that out pretty early on, trying to sneak boys up here."

Hermione scowled. How could she have forgotten! Her mind must be slipping.

"And second you forgot to change your smell."

"My smell?"

"I have a very strong sense of smell and not only do you not smell even remotely masculine, you smell like you. I'm not going to forget your smell any time soon." Jule looked down at the clenched hands in her lap.

Hermione thought of how she always felt, holding Draco in her arms and inhaling his own, personal scent. She knew his smell would be imprinted on her memory forever, just as hers was secured in Jule's memory. Suddenly a thought occurred to her; why couldn't Draco recognize her smell? It wasn't as if he hadn't been more than close enough to her as May or Hermione to smell her..

"So what's so important that you became Harry to speak to me?" Jule asked at length.

"I heard you've been thinking about hurting yourself." Hermione wouldn't meet Jule's eyes.

"I'm going to kill the real Harry." Jule intoned flatly.

"It wasn't his fault. I forced it out of him."

Jule smirked ironically. "You can be slightly intimidating when you want to be."

Hermione smiled back. Then her smile was gone. "Why would you want to do that to yourself."

"You've been in love," Jule shrugged. "What would you do if you couldn't sleep with Draco to make yourself feel better?"

"You know about that, huh?"

"I know lot's of things."

There was an awkward silence. "So," Harry's voice (Hermione's voice was still disguised) cracked slightly. "We won't ever be friends again, will we?"

"I don't know," Jule answered honestly. "Maybe someday. I can't see the future. But not now. I just need time away from you."

"If I leave you alone," Hermione began cautiously. "Will you promise to take better care of yourself?"

"No, I don't make promises. They only lead to lies. I guess that I'll try to though."

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It was one week later that Jule lived up to her words and gave up.

Hermione was sitting in History class, unhappily staring out the window at the grounds which should have been sunny. It was the first week of April and it should be sunny out, but instead it was dark and cloudy and had been raining intermittently throughout the day.

Professor Binns was droning on monotonously about something or other, as always, and Hermione's eyes were just sliding shut when McGonagle knocked sharply on the door and requested a quick word with Professor Binns. Her face was tight and pale and her eyes looked wild and nervous, like a skittish horse. After a moment of quick whispers from McGonagle Professor Binns turned around to face the class. His unchangingly bored face looked almost surprised, which was enough to make Hermione exceedingly nervous.

"Miss Granger," Binns droned. "Professor McGonagle would like a word with you."

Swallowing, Hermione stuffed her books into her bag and followed McGonagle silently out of the classroom. They marched down the hall, still in silence, and Hermione grew even more nervous. McGonagle's back was even straighter and stiffer than usual; something was _definitely_ wrong.

"Professor..." Hermione eventually started, but they had already stopped. They were outside the Hospital Wing.

"Miss Granger... Hermione," McGonagle's face was pained. "Your friend Miss McKay has... done harm to herself."

Hermione felt her head spinning. She knew that she shouldn't be surprised, and she wasn't very, not logically at least. But that didn't make it any easier to accept the fact that Jule had...had...

"She slit her wrists some time this morning. A second year Ravenclaw girl found her in the third floor lavatory and was quick enough to cast a mending spell on her wrists before she lost too much blood and then she called for Madame Pomfrey."

Hermione felt like she was going to throw up. Couldn't McGonagle let her sit down or something? There was a long moment of silence.

"Is she ok?"

"She will be, in time," McGonagle nodded curtly. "I have to ask you this though. She didn't give you any indication that she might try something like this, did she?" Hermione shrugged. McGonagle's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"I was scared, I didn't know what to do!" Hermione stuttered.

"That is simply unacceptable, Miss Granger. You are seventeen years old, you are not a child anymore! You have been given the authority and responsibility of Headgirl! How can you think that is a reasonable answer?" When Hermione said nothing McGonagle grew angrier. "Say something Miss Granger!"

"I don't know!" Hermione burst into tears. "I don't know anything anymore! Jule hasn't been talking to me in months, and I just heard that she might do something last week, and I tried to make her promise me that she wouldn't do anything, but she wouldn't! And I couldn't risk her never forgiving me, I just couldn't! Haven't you ever lost your best friend before?"

McGonagle was unmoved. "Well, thanks to your irresponsibility, you very nearly did." Hermione was crushed. "You may wait with Miss McKay inside. I'm sure she will want to speak with you when she wakes up." McGonagle began to walk away. After several steps she turned on her heel and shoved a piece of parchment into Hermione's hand. "By the way, she left this for you." And then she kept walking.

Hermione slid down the wall to sit on the floor, knees to her chest and face in her hands along with the now crumpled parchment. After a long time her tears slowed down and she was able to read the note. Sniffling gently, Hermione tried to calm her shaking hands by smoothing out the parchment. Eventually her eyes were focused enough for her to read. It was clearly written in Jule's cramped handwriting.

**Dear Hermione,**

**Now you know why I wouldn't promise you anything. I'm sorry that I'm so weak, but I didn't have the same kind of life that you did. My parents never loved me, or if they did they never showed it very well. I never had good friends like Harry and Ron; in fact you were the first real friend I ever had. Everyone else has only ever been interested in sleeping with me. But you actually cared about me. And then I had to go and fuck it up by falling in love with you. I know you can't love me back, so don't feel bad about that. After all, who could ever love someone like me? I know that I wouldn't. Either way, don't feel bad about what's happened now that I'm gone: I'm doing this for both of us so that you won't have to deal with my bullshit anymore and so that I won't have to hurt anymore. Good luck with Draco. I wish you all the best in the world.**

**My love always,**

**Jule**

**P.S. You never needed May. I've always like Hermione much better anyway.**

The tears started again and Hermione didn't bother trying to stop them. Gently folding the note, she put it into her pocket and swore that she would keep it forever. She owed that much to Jule at least.

After a while Hermione could stand and she finally entered the Hospital Wing.

TBC...

Preview: "It's alright Jule," Hermione whispered. "I'm here."

"Hermione?" Jule moaned in her sleep, face contorted in pain.

"I'm here."


	17. Goodbye Kisses

1Chapter 17: Good-bye Kisses

As soon as Hermione had entered the Hospital Wing she was already regretting it a little. Jule lay in bed, paler than she had ever been before. Her face was sunken and she looked like she was dying and dark hair framed her face, greasy and tangled looking. The scars on her wrists were clearly visible, having been healed clumsily and not particularly well. Her eyes flittered slightly beneath closed lids.

Hermione hesitated and seriously considered turning around and leaving. But Jule whimpered quietly and all thoughts of abandonment were forgotten. Hermione rushed to Jule's side and clasped one of her hands. It felt tiny and frail.

"It's alright Jule," Hermione whispered. "I'm here."

"Hermione?" Jule moaned in her sleep, face contorted in pain.

"I'm here."

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Movement of the hand she held in hers woke Hermione. She had dozed off in the chair next to Jule's bed, still holding the fragile little hand. Jule had withdrawn her hand from Hermione's desperate clutch and was sitting upright in bed, dark eyes unreadable.

"Hey," Hermione said lamely.

"Hey." Jule's voice was as unreadable as her eyes.

"Are you feeling any better?" Hermione immediately regretted her question. It was clearly a dumb one.

But Jule smiled a little. "Not particularly, but thanks for asking."

"Jule, I–"

"I'm sorry." Jule interrupted her. "I was stupid. I shouldn't have done that to you."

"You shouldn't have had to. I should have been paying more attention."

"How could you have? It's not like I was talking to you."

"So what? I should have followed you around. I can be very persistent after all."

"What human being would, given the choice between leaving well enough alone and assuming I would be careful or stalking me into submission would chose stalking? You left me alone because it was easier."

Hermione frowned and opened her mouth to protest, but Jule cut her off. "I'm not calling you lazy. I'm just saying it was natural for you to assume I would be fine."

Hermione sighed heavily. "I wish I could justify myself to McGonagle nearly as well as you can justify me to me."

"She have a bitch-fit then?"

"Yup."

"Think of it from her perspective," Jule offered. "A student in her house tried to kill herself. That's gonna make McGonagle look very bad. Add to that the fact that she was completely unaware that there was even something wrong with me and she thinks she looks downright negligent. So, rather than blame herself, she got angry and decided to blame you. But don't worry, McGonagle's reasonable and once she calms down she'll probably even apologize to you for yelling."

"You sound so philosophical," Hermione half-joked.

"Almost dying does that," Jule shrugged, smiling. Hermione tried to smile back, but she could feel her eyes filling with tears which Jule, of course, could see. "Oh, don't be that way," Jule rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I didn't actually die, after all. Why cry if I'm still here?"

"You can't just let this one go," Hermione yelled. "You can't just shrug it off and move on. You have to actually acknowledge your actions this time and try to get some help."

"I don't need any help," Jule flared, eyes flashing in anger, and voice rising to meet Hermione's. "I can take care of myself, just like I always have!"

"If you didn't need help you wouldn't be in a hospital bed right now!"

The two glared at each other in sullen anger as Madame Pomfrey came running in. "Miss Granger!" She scolded. "Fighting with a patient! Miss McKay needs her rest right now. I thought you knew better!" She then bustled Hermione out of the Hospital Wing and into the empty hallway beyond. "Come back when you've gained some common sense!"

With that Hermione had the door slammed in her face. She fumed at the door for a short moment before setting off down the hall, stomping her feet loudly in irritation. Hermione even went so far as to kick a set of armor in the shin, but all she succeeded in doing was bruising her foot. The armor had not taken the abuse well, either, grunting, "Grouch," through it's armor after she had passed.

Hermione didn't know where to go. She needed to vent, but knew that if she spoke to Harry and Ron she would only end up yelling at them and hurting their feelings. So she went to talk to Draco.

She found him very easily. He was in the library, thumbing through a giant tome of poisons. He looked up in surprise when she tapped his shoulder.

"Can I help you?" He asked slowly, one eyebrow raised. It was generally their custom to act indifferently towards one another in public. "I need to talk to you," Hermione responded flatly, through clenched teeth. Draco's raised brow shot up even higher, but he obeyed mutely, nodding his head and putting his book back on it's shelf.

As they walked towards the common room Hermione caught a whiff of something foul-smelling. "Ugh," she grunted, using her hand to cover her nose. "Dungbomb."

"Really?" Draco responded casually, seemingly unaffected by the stink.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Hermione demanded; the smell upset her so much she was feeling rather nauseous.

"I don't smell things very well," Draco shrugged. "My father broke my nose for me when I was thirteen. Mother wasn't much of a healer, so she could only heal to look normal, but I've pretty much lost my sense of smell."

Hermione nodded, remembering that he couldn't recognize her scent and realizing why. Well, at least she was safe from him discovering the truth.

They arrived at the common room without further discussion.

"So, what's so important that you dragged me all the way back here to talk about?" Draco asked lazily, flopping down on the couch and propping himself up with one arm.

"Jule tried to kill herself."

Draco's arm slipped and he crashed down onto the couch. "She what?" He demanded.

"She slit her wrists," Hermione continued pacing back and forth. "And now she's acting like it was no big deal."

"So she's alive?" Draco asked carefully.

"Of course she's alive, are you out of your mind?" Hermione yelled. Draco looked taken aback and slightly offended. "And, like the idiot she is, she's trying to tell me that she doesn't need help. People don't just slit their wrists if they're perfectly alright, do they?" This last was directed at Draco.

"None that I know," he supplied unhelpfully.

"Exactly," Hermione stormed on. "But Jule, like the idiot she is, thinks she's exempt from that rule. She avoids me for months, she bursts into tears when I talk to her, she threatens to hurt herself to Harry, and now tries to kill herself and tells me there's nothing wrong with her!"

"Might one ask why she killed herself?" Draco interjected as Hermione paused for breath.

"Because she's in love with me!" Hermione burst incredulously. "And now that she's survived it's as if none of that ever happened! Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to flatter myself, but you don't just get over love like that," she snapped her fingers. "And yet she's talking to me again! Why? Why does she suddenly not care that I don't love her back, when yesterday she was ready to die over me. It just doesn't make sense?"

"And have you ever been in love, to talk about it with so much certainty?" Draco asked caustically.

Hermione froze, stopped pacing, stopped talking to turn wide brown eyes upon Draco. "Of course I have," she said softly.

"Doesn't sound that way to me," Draco replied. "You sound heartless."

Hermione was taken aback. Where was this coming from? "What are you talking about?"

"You claim to know so much about everything," Draco responded slowly. "But it seems to me that you don't have any idea of what you're talking about. Jule doesn't need you to convince her that she needs help right now, she needs you to make her feel better. Getting her help is McGonagle's job, not yours. Calling her an idiot won't help. And maybe she does still love you. Maybe this is just how she has to deal with her feelings; burying them like this."

Hermione thought that over. "I'm a fool," she concluded.

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Jule was still lying in her bed in the Hospital Wing. She had more color in her cheeks but was still pale and her hair was still messy and tangled looking. But she did look much more alive than she had, anger livening her up.

"Oh, you're back?" She asked Hermione. "Here to yell at me again?"

"No," Hermione bit her lip. "I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Jule relaxed visibly. "I forgive you. You're a lot like McGonagle, did you know that? You felines are all the same; you'd much rather yell at others than feel guilty."

"Am I that transparent?"

"Only to me," Jule glanced quickly into Hermione's eyes before looking down at her hands, clenched on top of her blankets.

Hermione could feel the tension, thick in the air. It had been easier for Jule to treat Hermione normally earlier, when she had just woken up and was feeling rather honest about everything. No she felt awkward and unsure, something Jule hated.

"I guess we really won't ever be best friends again then?" Hermione asked frankly, sadness tinting her voice.

"I highly doubt it," Jule answered just as honestly.

"I'll miss you," Hermione offered.

"I know. I'll miss you too."

Hermione leaned forward uncertainly, pulling Jule into an awkward hug. As Jule put her arms around Hermione the hug became less forced and more natural. As Hermione pulled back to leave Jule caught her eyes in a charged look. Leaning forward Jule brushed her lips against Hermione's and pulled her into a kiss. Hermione let the kiss last for a long moment before gently extricating herself from Jule's arms. The look they shared told Jule that the kiss had been platonic and Hermione that there were no hard feelings. Smiling slightly, Hermione waved good-bye and left the Hospital Wing. Had she realized that Jule would not be there when she returned Hermione might have said something, but then again maybe not. The moment had been perfect; the proper end for the whirlwind friendship Hermione had shared with the wild, troubled girl that was Jule. Words would have only cheapened things.

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Jule left Hogwarts early the next morning. There was no announcement made, no good-byes; Jule was simply gone. McGonagle did inform the Gryffindors that Jule had left to be with her family, but Hermione knew better. From what Jule had said of her parents she would be in no rush to see them. Because it was so close to the end of the year Dumbledore had granted Jule a diploma and allowed her to graduate early; she did well enough in all her classes that there was no question of her ability to pass.

Hermione didn't know how to feel. Leaving the meeting McGonagle had called in Gryffindor Tower. She was relieved certainly, which in turn made her sad. Jule was gone, taking her problems with her, but Hermione hated herself for feeling that way. Then there was grief: for all Jule's shit Hermione had cared about her' she had been one of the closest friends that Hermione had ever had.

Hermione slowly walked back to her own common room, the one she shared with Draco. She would miss Jule, that was for sure, but wherever Jule was Hermione hoped that she was happy.

TBC...

A/C: OK, so I'm sorry that this chapter is so short. It is short for two reasons: I haven't had much time to work on it and this seemed like a good place to stop. I work more for quality than length and this seems like a logical place to stop to me, artistically. Anyway, longer chapter next time I hope. Only three more to go!

Preview: Draco gazed into her eyes for the first time since they had been sleeping together and almost jumped with surprise. He knew those eyes.


	18. Brown Eyes

1Sorry this is late everybody, but the site wouldn't let me upload for a while and then it wouldn't even let me login. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for the lateness.

Also, if any of you have been rereading old chapters (although I don't know why you would) it finally got through to me that the partitions I was placing between the sections/scenes of each chapter haven't been working. So I went through every chapter, fixed them, and reposted everything. If any of the transitions didn't used to make sense, go back and look through the new version and it might help. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 18: Brown Eyes

Life fell into a more normal pattern, now that Jule was gone. No one wanted to admit it, but there was a certain relief now that Jule was gone and had taken her drama with her. They missed their friend, of course, and wondered with some concern exactly where she had gone, but they all breathed a lot easier now that she was out of their lives.

Hermione probably missed her the most of anyone, but she had grown used to missing Jule ever since Jule had started avoiding her long ago.

April passed fairly uneventfully. All the seventh years could feel the year winding down with much more weight than the other students; soon they would leave forever. Different students had different emotions when it came to leaving: some, like Ron, couldn't wait to escape classes forever while others, like Harry, were sad to leave what they considered home. Hermione was nervous but looked forward to the future, whatever it might hold. Draco, although he never mentioned it, didn't care much about what was coming; he didn't have anything interesting in his future, so he didn't bother to think about it.

Hermione and Draco grew steadily closer, but Hermione could always feel Draco keeping her at arms' length emotionally. One of the signs that he wouldn't let her in was that he would never quite meet her eyes. He talked and joked with her easily enough, and he slept with her with absolutely no qualms, but he would never look directly into her eyes. Hermione didn't let it bother her: the idea of being too close to Draco again frightened her.

Hermione was very busy working towards her own future. Because there was still tension between her and McGonagle over Jule's suicide attempt she turned to Dumbledore for counseling. He was able to offer her many job opportunities including an internship at the Ministry of Magic for the Committee on Experimental Charms. Hermione, who hoped to have a career in the Ministry someday, seriously considered the internship.

Harry and Ron had already laid their plans long ago; they wanted to be Aurors. Or, rather, Harry wanted to be an Auror and Ron had decided to tag along.

Draco had no plans that Hermione knew of.

Because she was serious about the internship Hermione threw herself into Charms. One of the requirements for the internship was that she had to invent at least two rudimentary charms of her own, so Hermione spent a whole lot of time studying so that she could invent very good charms. The first one she invented reminded her of Jule: it was a charm that would enhance one's appearance so that no matter how old or tired the caster might be they would look young, well-rested, and fresh. She named her charm _sveglisi_ and set to work creating another one.

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Draco was also working hard, though not on his schoolwork. He was catching himself slipping in his ability to keep Hermione away. The irritating Gryffindor girl was worming her way into his heart and Draco was finding himself incapable of stopping her. Draco tormented himself by feeling guilty for his feelings; he still loved May, so how could he be falling for Hermione too?

Sleeping with Hermione was one thing, but Draco wasn't ready to love anyone again. Unfortunately for Draco, he had very little control over his own, wayward heart.

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Hermione was busy working in the Library, studying hard to create her next charm. She had already decided, to offset the shallowness of the other charm, that she would create a healing charm. This also reminded her of Jule. Most witches and wizards knew rudimentary healing spells, but those either only corrected injuries on a superficial level (like Draco's nose) or could heal the wound, but only well enough to stop bleeding (like Jule's wrists.) An injury healed like Jule's had been might hurt from time to time and would always wear unattractive scars.

The problem was that better healing spells were more complicated and thus the common witch or wizard never bothered to learn them. Madame Pomfrey could heal any kind of cut or break within five minutes and would rarely leave a scar, but few had that same skill.

So Hermione was studying previous healing charms in the hopes of improving and combining them into one, strong charm.

Hermione suddenly became aware of a body behind her. Someone was leaning over her shoulder to inspect the book she was presently reading. Turning her head a little Hermione saw that it was Draco who surveyed her work.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. She knew that they must look peculiar: they never moved close to one another in public.

"I'm bored," Draco shrugged. "I was hoping that you could distract me." He glanced at her with one raised eyebrow, and Hermione knew what he meant.

Sighing in irritation Hermione whispered: "It's the middle of the afternoon!" But nonetheless, she stood up and gathered her things together. Smiling slightly, Hermione followed Draco back to the common room. /Hormones/ she thought, though her own or Draco's Hermione couldn't tell.

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When they reached the common room Draco gently pulled Hermione's bag from her hands and dropped it onto the floor before pulling her forward into a kiss. Being this close to her, feeling her body pressed against his own drove Draco crazy. Deepening the kiss, Draco moved his hands across Hermione's cheeks to bury them in her hair. When the kiss ended and they pulled apart slightly, Draco could feel Hermione's intense gaze on his face, could feel her trying to meet his eyes, but he looked down at her mouth instead. Draco couldn't let himself allow Hermione to get that close.

Hermione bit her lip and Draco could feel himself smiling. Her lips were red and shiny and a little bit puffy from their kissing. Kissing her lightly again, Draco moved backwards towards his room and drew Hermione with him. Draco was pulling Hermione's shirt off over her head as his door swung closed behind them.

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Hermione leaned against Draco's bare chest, tracing circles on it with her finger. Draco simply stared at his ceiling. He wasn't really thinking about anything in particular but he wore a deeply contemplative expression.

"What are you thinking about?" Hermione asked.

"Graduation," Draco heaved a sigh. "What're your plans? Something prestigious I'll bet."

"I'm applying for an internship with the Committee on Experimental Charms."

"Figures." Hermione only shrugged. This irked Draco for some reason. "Why don't you just nominate yourself for Minister of Magic and save time?"

"Excuse me?" Hermione pulled away to look at his face. Draco didn't meet her eyes, as always.

"Everyone knows that's where your headed: you were made to run the world."

"So what do you want to do?" Hermione didn't bother denying his words; they were pretty much true.

"It doesn't matter what I 'want' to do," Draco stated ironically. "What matters is what I'm doing."

"Which is?"

"Absolutely nothing. Malfoys haven't worked in almost two centuries. The only acceptable career for me would be something political, like running for Minister of Magic or some other high-ranking position, but with you around why should I bother? Besides which politics bore me."

Hermione regarded Draco in astonishment. "Why should you follow tradition? I thought you were dead set against becoming your father."

"Some traditions are more worth fighting than others," Draco shrugged. "Being an abusive, death-eater bastard is bad. Not working for a living could be worse."

"But if you were going to work," Hermione pressed. "What would you want to do?"

Draco thought for a moment. What did he want to do? He was smart, handsome, and likeable (when he wanted to be.) If he were actually to work he could do anything. The problem was he had always assumed that he would not work and, thus, had never thought of his dream-job.

"Just think about it," Hermione carefully stood up and started pulling on her clothing.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to invent a charm for my internship," Hermione shrugged her shirt on. "I might have finished it by now if you hadn't... distracted me." She gifted him with one of his trademark smirks.

"I just can't control these urges of mine," Draco smirked back, also standing and moving towards Hermione. "When I'm around you I just want to–" Draco grabbed Hermione, threw her onto his bed, and started tickling her mercilessly.

Laughing helplessly, Hermione struggled meekly against Draco's onslaught. "I–really–have–to–go!" She gasped between her giggles. Sighing in mock sadness, Draco let her go and sat on his bed.

"Fine! Just leave me," he pretended to sulk.

Smiling, Hermione leaned over to kiss Draco's cheek. "I'll see you later."

And with that she was gone.

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Hermione could hardly believe the ease she now felt around Draco. Always before, even when they had been in love, she had been nervous; nervous that he might discover her secret, nervous that others might learn, and nervous that he would betray her. But now that all the expectations were gone (and now that she didn't have to conceal her identity) she could relax and just enjoy spending time with Draco.

But this also worried her. She knew that she was still in love with Draco; she would probably always love him. After all, he had been her first love. What worried her was the possibility of him hurting her again. As she relaxed more and more around him, Hermione could sense Draco relaxing more and more around her. As long as they kept things casual she was safe. But once things grew serious there would always be the danger of betrayal.

Hermione pushed it from her mind, something she was doing more frequently of late: if something wasn't pleasant, she tried not to think about it. It was working too. She rarely thought of Jule, but when she did the thoughts were always of good times together. It was now early May and Hermione was reminiscing more and more.

Memories haunted her. What was Tom up to? Although she had led him on and then dated Draco the two had been good friends. Hermione was slightly ashamed of the way she had dropped the band like that. And no matter how hard she tried to think of more pleasant things, one thought kept popping into her mind. Was Draco over May?

It was foolish, she knew, but she couldn't help but feel slightly dirty when this thought came to mind. Thinking of May as a separate entity, as Draco must, Hermione would feel cheap if Draco were still in love with May. Not that she wanted to be in a more permanent relationship with Draco; she would never trust him entirely again. But she didn't want him to think of her as some thing to be used as he pined for May.

These were the only unpleasant thoughts that Hermione could never deny to herself; she had closure with Jule, but not with Tom or Draco. And so, on the first Friday in May, May the girl was reborn.

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Hermione left Hogwarts before changing into May. The danger of discovery by Draco was too great for her to do otherwise. She borrowed a broom from Madame Hooch and flew into Hogsmeade, carrying a change of clothes in her bag. She changed in the bathroom of the Three Broomsticks into a short black skirt that cut off mid-thigh, a black corset that buttoned up the front with tiny silver buttons and the combat boots Jule had given her so long ago. Rubbing her thumb over one of the tiny silver lionesses Jule had placed on them made Hermione smile.

Hermione cast the old appearance spells, remembering the charms with ease. Her hair grew longer and darker and hung in loose curls down her back. Her eyes were rimmed in black eyeliner and her lips were a brownish-red. Other than that she did nothing really drastic. Of course, the trick to the charms was that they didn't just make her hair and make-up different. Anyone could see through a spell like that. Hermione also cast a charm that altered her facial features slightly. It wasn't so much that she looked different, just that she looked like a different person. Most of her face was the same as it always had been, but at the same time she looked completely different. Hermione vaguely wondered whether the spell changed her at all; maybe it just made the looker _think_ that she looked different, like the spells protecting Hogwarts from muggles.

Her first stop would be the club and Tom. She had no doubt that the band would be playing tonight. Tom had some strange agreement with the club; the band never played anywhere else and the club never hired any other band. Hermione had never quite seen the logic behind this: it was no way to advance the bands career if it was only the same people hearing them all the time.

When Hermione reached the club she was immediately admitted by the rather surprised bouncer. It had been general knowledge around the club that "May" had moved to Paris and she and the bouncer had known one another. Hermione couldn't help but be pleased that he had remembered her.

Entering the club only made Hermione realize how much she had missed it. The dark lighting, the pounding music, the dancers moving with the rhythm all hit her in a sharp wave of recognition. The band was not on stage at the moment, but Hermione could tell from the size of the crowd that they would be soon: the club got the most people when the band played. She moved towards the bar and asked for a drink, not specifying any particular drink. She took the glass handed her and downed it. Vodka burned her throat and she coughed, but she felt warm inside and her nervousness faded.

"May?" Hermione turned towards the bartender. It was Phil, Jule's special friend. "Where've you been?"

"Paris," Hermione responded with a French accent. "I came back to visit."

"Tom'll be pleased," Phil nodded in satisfaction. Then his expression grew earnest. "How's Leela?"

Hermione almost asked who Leela was before remembering the pseudonym Jule had given Phil. At first it had been the common sense not to give a stranger her real name. Jule had kept the name partly because it was hard to tell someone that the name you've given them was fake and partly because she didn't want Hermione to have all the fun of an alter-ego to herself.

"She's alright," Hermione shrugged. "Moved back to America a little while ago."

"That explains her accent," Phil smiled ruefully. "I never really bothered to ask her where she was from."

"I doubt she would've given you an honest answer anyway," Hermione smiled back.

At that moment someone cut the music and there were loud protestations, as always. Then there was cheering as the band took their places. Hermione took a deep breath and turned towards the stage. There they were. All the old lads that Hermione had spent so much time with. Jim, the drummer, was in the back. He had spoken rarely, but had smiled easily and when he did talk it was always kindly. Ahead and to the left was Alex, the guitarist, who was a terrible womanizer and had always half-jokingly hit on Hermione. Then, to the right, was Tom. Hermione had been the closest to Tom. He had respected her relationship with Draco, but had always hinted that if she were to change her mind he would be available. Hermione slowly made her way through the crowd. Where was their new singer?

As the music started Hermione realized that Tom was doing the singing now. He was good, better than she had been because he sang with his heart, his entire body clearly meaning the words he was singing. Hermione wondered why he had chosen to become the band's primary singer; he had always said that he preferred female leads because they were less common.

Hermione continued on through the crowd, not allowing herself to think about what she was doing. By the time she had reached the edge of the stage Tom had noticed her presence. His only reaction was to widen his eyes in shock. Tom was a true professional and would not let anything interfere with his performance. Hermione smiled weakly in response to his reaction and stayed at the edge of the stage, waiting for the band to finish its set. The set was forty-five minutes long, so Hermione had quite some time to wait, and Tom rarely looked away from her which made her slightly uncomfortable.

Eventually, when the set was over, Tom briefly informed the audience that the set was done, signaled for the recorded music to start, removed his guitar, and jumped right into the audience and next to Hermione.

"May!" He exclaimed as he pulled her into a rib-crushing hug. "What're you doing here? When did you get back?"

"I'm just visiting," Hermione squeezed him back. "It's my mum's birthday, so I came home for a few days." Tom nodded. The story made sense; Hermione had thought it through carefully. "So how's the band? You're singing now!"

"Yeah, couldn't find anymore decent girls," Tom smiled ruefully. "We had one for a while after you left, but Alex did what he always does and she quit after finding him with three girls."

"She didn't leave after the first one?" Hermione raised a brow.

"He was with all of them at once," Tom dead-panned. At Hermione's shocked look he started to laugh, making her laugh along. "I've missed you May," Tom slung an arm around her shoulders and started to guide her towards the dressing rooms. "What've you been up to?"

"This and that," Hermione replied evasively. "Nothing interesting."

Jim and Alex lounged in the dressing room, Jim drumming with his sticks on his knees and Jim getting close to a teenage girl who looked to be a year or so younger than Hermione. As Hermione inspected the girl's face she realized that it was someone she knew: a Ravenclaw fifth year named Nancy who had bright blue eyes and gorgeously blond hair that hung straight down her back. Jim was too absorb in his lust to notice his old band-mate's entrance, but Jim saw her immediately. He leapt up and graced Hermione with a warm hug, surprising her slightly. Although he was always nice Jim was rarely openly affectionate.

"May, you're back," he mumbled, pulling away shyly. Hermione smiled into his sweet, shy face.

"It's great to see you Jim," she kissed his cheek, making him blush. He definitely looked like a rocker, but he had the heart of a little boy.

"May's here?" Alex pulled away from Nancy, making her pout cutely. She stared at Hermione and frowned slightly, as though she were trying to recognize her. Hermione smiled nervously and was glad for the distraction when Alex also gave her a hug.

"Just here to see my parents, thought I'd drop by," Hermione grinned. She made her voice slightly raspy, hoping that Nancy wouldn't recognize it.

"Come on, we both know that you're really here to confess your undying love for me," Alex grinned jokingly.

"Am I that obvious?" Hermione sighed in mock disappointment. "Well, now that the truth is out..." she turned as if to leave.

Laughing, Alex spun her around and hugged her again. "Silly girl," he laughed.

At that point Nancy cleared her throat meaningfully and gave Alex a look that clearly said "Pay attention to me or I'll find someone who can." Understanding immediately, Alex gave Hermione one last squeeze before saying, "Write some time," and returning to the couch.

Jim nodded and sat down, peeking through his hair and drumming again. Tom took Hermione's hand in his own and led her into another room, the one which had previously been Hermione's dressing room. They sat on the couch together in silence for a moment.

"I've really missed you," Tom started. "Why'd you leave?"

"It's... complicated," Hermione chose her words carefully. "I just needed to be in Paris for a while, get out of here."

"But why?"

"I can't really talk about it," Hermione looked down at her hands.

"Was it something with the band?" Hermione shook her head. "Was it your family?" Another negative. "Was it Draco?" Tom drifted off as Hermione failed to indicate no. "What did that bastard do to you?"

"He... kind of cheated on me."

"Kind of?"

"It's complicated!" Hermione burst out, feeling tears in her eyes. She hadn't been forced to talk about Draco for a long time. "Can't we talk about something else?"

"You know," Tom said slowly. "I would never cheat on you, not even 'kind of'."

"Tom–"

"Just listen," Tom continued. "I really care about you. You know that I do."

"I know, but–"

"And I would be good to you. I would always take care of you."

"Wait, I–"

Tom leaned in and kissed Hermione. The kiss was good; Hermione had known it would be. Tom was a good kisser. But it was empty; there was no spark, no clench in Hermione's heart or stomach to let her know that Tom was special. It wasn't like kissing Draco.

"Tom!" Hermione pushed her friend off. "Don't! I'm sorry, but I don't feel that way about you and I can't make myself!"

"Are you seeing someone?"

"Not exactly," Hermione frowned in consternation. She had been afraid that this would happen.

Tom's eyes widened in sudden realization. "You still care about Malfoy, don't you? Even after what he did to you?"

Hermione shrugged. "I can't help the way I feel," she muttered. "And I love you, but as a friend and I love Draco as... more than a friend. But this isn't even about him. I can't be with you because I don't care about you like that."

Tom looked down sadly.

"Maybe I should go," Hermione mumbled. She lightly kissed his cheek and headed out towards the others. Briefly hugging Jim and Alex she left with tears in her eyes. It had hurt to see the boys again, but it had also helped. At least now she would never have to wonder what would have happened again. Now she only had one more person to talk to before May was once again laid to rest.

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Draco lay on his bed, reading a book but thinking of Hermione. He could no longer deny it to himself: he was in love with Hermione Granger. But now what should he do? How did she feel about him? For the most part she treated him like a friend, but at night, when she thought he was sleeping, he could feel her eyes on him, like she was studying his face. But he still loved May.

He stared at the picture of her on his desk, the photo he had taken the first night they had made love. He hadn't had the courage to throw the picture away. May was laughing and spinning around, long black hair flying behind her. She waved to him and smiled broadly. Draco caught himself smiling back. A tap on the window drew Draco's attention. It was too dark out for Draco to see what it was, but thinking it was his owl Draco walked over and pulled the window open only to leap back in surprise as May flew in.

"May!" He exclaimed.

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Hermione landed gracefully in the middle of Draco's room and climbed off her broom. "Hello Draco," she said quietly. "What's new?"

"What-what's new? You're gone for five months and that's what you say?" Draco demanded. "What're you doing here?"

"I needed to see you," Hermione stated calmly. Somehow, seeing him as May wasn't as scary as she had thought that it would be. "I needed to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine, I guess," Draco was at a loss for words. "And you?"

"Fine."

"How's Paris?" Draco continued awkwardly.

"Lovely."

There was silence for a long moment. Draco stared at Hermione openly, absorbing her with his eyes. Finally the silence upset him. "Why are you here? What do you want with me?"

Hermione decided to be direct. "I need to know how you feel about me. If you still love me or not."

"Why?"

"So that I can move on."

"Well, that's pretty fucking selfish," Draco glared at her. "You can't just show up here, surprise me like this and then ask me something like that."

"I'm not sorry," Hermione retorted. "I need some goddam closure and all you can think about is you. You're the one that ruined everything."

"You didn't have to leave though! We could have made it work!"

"I don't want to 'make' anything work! I just want it to work!" Hermione yelled. "Now do you still love me or not?"

"Yes," Draco spit out. "But..."

"Go on," Hermione tapped a foot impatiently, masking her true feelings behind anger.

"I'm in love with someone else too."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. This was unexpected. "Who?" She demanded.

Draco thought his words through. "Well, since we're being to open and honest, I guess I'll tell you. Hermione Granger, the girl I cheated on you with."

Hermione had DEFINITELY not expected that. "Now what?"

"Well you and I are over, right?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded. "So, I guess I'm gonna tell her how I feel."

Hermione remained shocked and silent. "Are we done?" Draco demanded. She nodded again. "Then leave. And take this with you," Draco shoved the picture of May into Hermione's hands. She grabbed her broom and left, flying around the castle before sneaking back into her own room.

/Well/ she thought to herself. /That was surprising./

It seemed that in seeking closure for herself she had finally given it to Draco.

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Draco felt lighter, as if he had unconsciously been carrying his feelings for May on his back and had finally been freed of his burden. It wasn't just that May didn't want him back; it didn't take much thought to realize that it should have been Hermione all along. They were meant to be together. They were so different, but had so much in common. They were both smart, strove for excellence (she more so than he) and had trouble opening up to people.

He had to tell her. Draco had to let Hermione know that she was the one, that whatever his plans after graduation, he wanted her to be in them. First thing in the morning Draco knocked on Hermione's door and waited impatiently for her to open it.

When she came out Draco could tell that she was nervous about something. She looked as though she hadn't slept very well.

"Hermione, I need to talk to you," Draco spoke in a nervous rush. "I–" Draco stopped, frozen still.

Draco gazed into Hermione's eyes for the first time since they had been sleeping together and almost jumped with surprise. He knew those eyes. He would never forget those deep, thoughtful brown eyes. They had been burned into his mind's eye and he now saw that he would never be free of them.

"May?" He gasped.

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TBC...

No preview this week :( I had enough trouble getting this chapter done, even late, so you'll just have to wait till next Monday to see what happens next. Only two chapters left!


	19. Changes

1Guys, please don't send me anonymous reviews or messages. It makes me kind of nervous. I'm a very paranoid person.

HAPPY MAY DAY EVERYONE!

Chapter 19: Changes

Panic flashed through Hermione's glorious brown eyes. "W-what are you talking about?" She stuttered. She backed away slightly from her open doorway.

"May! It-it's you! All along, it's been you!" Draco exclaimed, his eyes even more wild than Hermione's.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione exclaimed, pushing the door closed and walking back into her room. Draco caught the door before it had swung completely shut and followed her in.

"Don't walk away from me! And stop lying, I know that it's you. Why?"

"Why what?" Hermione demanded, sitting on her bed.

"Why everything? Why would you lie about who you were? Why was there a May at all?" Draco collapsed backward, leaning against Hermione's wall.

"I don't know," Hermione muttered. "I guess I was just tired of being me. Don't you ever feel that way? Like you wish you were someone else?"

Draco shrugged. "Everyone feels that way sometimes. That doesn't mean that you actually go and become someone else though. That's something a crazy person does!"

"Well then maybe I'm crazy."

"I don't believe that for a second," Draco stared at her intently, catching her eyes in a charged look.

"I was just having some fun," Hermione felt a tear slipping from her eye. "Jule and I were at the club, blowing off steam, and I was dancing. I felt someone dancing with me, behind me, and I closed my eyes and turned around and kissed him. I didn't know it would be you. And I don't know why I kissed you, I just wanted to I guess."

"But why didn't you just tell me who you really were?" Draco asked in agitation. "What's the worst I could have done?"

"What would you do if you were me? I thought you hated me," Hermione angrily swiped away her tears. "Hell, I thought I hated you."

"But why keep it up?" Draco felt himself near to tears, or as near as his pride would let him come. "It must've been some big joke. Leading me on like that, getting me vulnerable so that you could learn things to use against me."

"Of course not!" Hermione stood up in anger. "I felt something for you! I didn't know what, but I knew that I wanted to get close to you, at least for a while. I never thought about where things were going, only how things were. I... I fell in love with you."

There it was, out in the open. Hermione Granger had been in love with him. Draco didn't know what to do. Whatever May had said, it had been impossible to see to the truth; she was always so hard to read. But here it was: they had been in love.

"Do you... still love me?" Draco whispered.

"I don't know," Hermione shrugged. "I guess I always will. But I can't trust you. You cheated on me!"

"With you!" Draco exclaimed in exasperation and wonder. "How could you hold that against me?"

"Because you didn't know that it was me," Hermione shrugged coolly. "For all you knew you really had cheated on me. And it didn't matter enough to you to tell me the truth."

"Don't say that! Don't you dare say that!" Draco took a step forward and pointed his finger at her menacingly. "I loved you back and I lied so that I wouldn't lose you!"

"That's bullshit and you know it. Don't try to defend yourself, what you did was inexcusable."

There was a long silence. "I can't be here right now," Draco breathed at length. "I can't be around you right now." He spun away and left Hermione behind, still sitting on her bed.

Hermione collapsed onto her back and stared at her ceiling. /Well/ she thought. /That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be./

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Draco paced back and forth across the Astronomy Tower. It was so confusing, yet made so much sense. The bizarre events of the morning were circulating throughout his mind. It was about noon and Draco had been wandering aimlessly through the castle for the last few hours. He had ended up here on the Astronomy Tower, the perfect place to be alone and think. But Draco didn't need to think; he had been thinking about the same thing for hours. He needed a distraction.

Suddenly remembering something, Draco smirked and crossed the tower. Pulling up a stone on the far end of the wall circling the platform of the tower, Draco grinned even wider. Inside the stone was an unopened pack of cigarettes and a lighter that he had hidden months ago when he had quit smoking. Draco knew that the cigarettes would be hopelessly stale, but at a time like this a little nicotine was just what he needed.

Packing the small box expertly against his hand, Draco removed the wrapping at the top, opened the pack, pulled out a cigarette, held it between his lips and lit it. Draco sighed in pleasure as he inhaled the smoke. It was so stale, so disgusting, and so delicious. God had he missed this. (A/N: I REALLY want a smoke right now, hehe.)

"Where have you been all my life?" Draco asked the cigarette that he held in his hand.

"Smoking on school grounds, Mr. Malfoy?" An elderly voice asked from the stairs. "My, my, there must be some rule against that."

Draco spun on his heel to face the Headmaster, standing at the top of the stairs and smiling in a slightly admonishing way. Regardlessly, his blue eyes sparkled and he seemed to be in a very good mood.

Draco didn't want to give up his cigarette, but it probably wasn't very smart to smoke in front of Dumbledore like that. So, sighing in regret, Draco took one more drag and tossed the burning stick over the edge of the tower. But he did put the pack and the lighter in his pocket.

"That's a terrible habit, you know," Dumbledore was still smiling. "Clever hiding place, however. Did you know that Salazar Slytherin created that hollow?" Draco shook his head silently. "Oh yes, he used it to hide weapons and the like. He would lure enemies up here with false promises of friendship and peace: no wands of course. Then, once they were relaxed, he would attack them."

"Fascinating," Draco said, not particularly caring.

"So what brings you up here today, Mr. Malfoy? I thought you had quit in October."

Draco started in shock before smiling ruefully. "You really do know everything, don't you Sir?"

"Of course not, Mr. Malfoy. Who can ever know everything? I just like to think that I learn as much as I can. But back to my question: is something wrong?"

Draco shrugged and looked down at his feet, scuffing one toe absentmindedly.

"Come now, you can talk to me," Dumbledore smiled understandingly. "Is the problem with Miss Granger?"

Now Draco was _really_ shocked. "How do you know about _that_?" Draco demanded, too shocked to be polite.

"As you tried to say, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "There is very little that goes on in this school that I do not know about. I have been aware of Miss Granger's secret for quite some time. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that it took _you_ so long to find everything out."

"Why'd you let her get away with it, Sir? She must have been breaking tons of school rules."

"Mr. Malfoy, there is a time in every individuals life where he or she starts to see beyond the realm of black and white. You're still young; everything is clearly cut and defined as right and wrong for you. Along with all my years has come the knowledge that, while random rule-breaking is inexcusable, some rules need to be bent for the greater good. There is no black and white, only shades of grey. Rules are no exception."

"I suppose I can understand that, Professor," Draco nodded solemnly. "But what exactly was the greater good in this case? Hermione was just having fun."

"You were, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore answered blandly. "Not only could any relationship between yourself and Miss Granger bring the Houses closer together, but I knew that an emotional attachment to a muggle-born might very well be the difference between whether you become a Death Eater or not."

Draco nodded again, once more seeing the logic. "That's rather manipulative, Sir."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Dumbledore responded sorrowfully, though his blue eyes still sparkled. "But once again, manipulation lies within the realm of greyness, so you must excuse an old man's meddling for what he hoped would be the best."

Draco shrugged. "You didn't do anything. You just took advantage of a situation Hermione created and used it to benefit your goals. It feels sort of intrusive and controlling, but I can't say I'm particularly angry at you about it."

"You don't know how pleased I am to hear that, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore replied without the slightest trace of sarcasm. "I hope that you'll be as open-minded with Miss Granger; I know for a fact that she couldn't have planned the way things turned out."

"Still hoping to unite the Houses, Sir?" Draco asked bitterly, and just a little too sharply.

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he continued to smile anyway. "No Mr. Malfoy. While uniting the Houses would be a great accomplishment, I'm thinking more in terms of you and Miss Granger. It would be an awful shame to allow so much love to be lost. The world needs as much love as it can get in these dark times." Dumbledore gave Draco a moment to think that over. "Good-evening, Mr. Malfoy. Try not to burn the castle down." And with that Dumbledore descended the tower once more, leaving Draco with his thoughts and his cigarettes.

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Hermione paced back and forth through her room, thinking about what to say to Draco. She regretted the way she had spoken to him earlier; the past didn't matter, only the present and the future. Hermione had decided to let the past lie and get to improving the future. She could only hope that Draco would agree and would still want to spend his future with her.

Where was Draco? He had been gone all day. It was now almost sunset and Draco had still not returned yet. Hermione had waited in the common room and her own room for most of the day, hoping that Draco would return and afraid to leave in case he did. Sighing in frustration, Hermione kicked her wall, scuffing it slightly. It didn't relieve her boredom or tension. What Hermione needed was to go for a walk.

Pulling on sneakers, Hermione walked briskly from Head's common room and out into the hallway. In no time she was outside, strolling across the green grounds. Spring really had arrived; it was beautiful. Flowers and leaves hung heavily from the trees scattered across the grounds and the Forbidden Forest was a riot of green and bright, flowery colors. The giant squid splashed merrily about the lake, enjoying the warm weather. Hermione even thought she saw a merperson, basking in the fading light of the sun, but whether the merperson had been real or imagined, they were gone in an instant, leaving not so much as a ripple to indicate it had been real.

Hermione breathed deeply. Everything smelled green and fresh. May really was a great month; even the dramatic events of the day couldn't put a damper on Hermione's enjoyment of the weather.

Suddenly feeling inspired, Hermione sat down cross legged and tried to concentrate. In her mind's eye she pictured the image of a lioness, an image she had studied so much that it seemed imprinted on the inside of her eyelids. She could see ever muscle, ever whisker, every strand of fur. The claws were the perfect size and the fur was the correct length. The picture was perfect. A burst of confidence overcame Hermione and she imagined the sensation of changing, of shifting into that other body. The next instant Hermione was a lioness.

Roaring in pleasure, Hermione bounded across the grounds. She would have laughed with joy, but lionesses do no laugh. Instead a deep rumble came from her throat and she rolled cheerfully through the grass.

Hermione had never successfully transformed before. The joy of at last reaching her full potential, of at last becoming all that she could be, was unparalleled. It even took her mind off of Draco. But only for a moment.

After a time, long after the sun had set below the horizon of the lake, Hermione collapsed into the grass and resumed her human body. She was exhausted. The strain of changing shape along withe the exertion of running around the grounds had worn her out. She looked up and gazed at the stars. They were lovely. Then she turned her head to look at the castle. A tiny figure stood atop the Astronomy Tower, watching her. Even though Hermione couldn't see any details, Hermione knew that it was Draco. Warily, she raised her hand to wave him down. After a moment of hesitation, Draco threw something and descended the stairs. Hermione lay back to wait.

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Draco didn't know why he was willing to join her. Maybe it was the sight of her in her animagus form; she had been glorious and majestic. Who would have expected to see a lioness roaming the school grounds? So Draco had thrown away yet another cigarette and climbed down to join her.

Hermione was still laying in the grass when he reached her.

"Tired?" He asked, lying down next to her. She nodded mutely. "You ran around for a while. I was watching."

Again Hermione nodded. Draco pulled out his pack and lit up another cigarette. He had been smoking and pacing across the Astronomy Tower intermittently for the past few hours. He saw no reason to change that now. Hermione, on the other hand, was surprised.

"Since when do you smoke?" She demanded.

"I quit a while ago," he shrugged. "Today's been stressful. I thought it was the time to take it up again. Want one?"

Hermione weighed the offer for a moment before holding out her hand. Draco lit another cigarette in his own mouth and handed it to Hermione. She took a drag, accidentally inhaled, and coughed weakly.

"Heh," Draco smiled in some satisfaction. "Weren't expecting that, were you?"

Hermione shrugged and took another drag, more careful this time. She didn't cough again.

"How'd you finally transform?" Draco asked after a time.

"I just wanted it enough," Hermione exhaled another breath of smoke. "We know the details well enough by now. All we need is to want it. And I wanted to be... something else."

"Sounds like a common occurrence for you," Draco stated dryly.

Hermione didn't bother to respond; she merely kept smoking. "I can understand how this is so addictive," Hermione replied. "These things are fun. Fun and evil."

"Yeah," Draco agreed. Even magic couldn't cure cancer, at least not yet. "You think I could transform?"

"Of course you could," Hermione nodded. "But do you want to?"

"I don't know."

"Well, when you want to, you can."

Draco considered that. Finishing his cigarette, he ground the butt into the dirt. Sitting up, he closed his eyes and thought about his wolf shape. His wolf picture was as ingrained as Hermione's lioness; he could see it without thinking. He concentrated on transformation. Nothing happened.

Draco thought harder. He thought of all the anger and frustration he had gone through in that day. All the confusion he had struggled against. When he opened his eyes he was a wolf. Hermione was in front of him, and he could see that she was smiling broadly.

"You did it!" She cried. Her voice sounded odd. She was louder, for one thing, and everything was slightly distorted. Next thing Draco knew Hermione was a lioness. Her feline grin resembled her human smile extremely closely.

Barking in happiness, Draco ran off a bit. Hermione, seeming to have regained her energy, followed. He howled and she roared as they frolicked through the grass.

This didn't solve anything. It didn't bring them closer or move them further apart. But they were together, and they were happy. And that was enough for now.

TBC...

One more chapter to go! In case you couldn't tell, yes I am one of the mindless nicotine slaves. Forgive my weakness!


	20. Byebye Baby

1Sorry this is so late. It's the first story I've ever finished, so I wanted to take my time to savor the ending. Yeah.

Chapter 20: Bye-bye baby

Playing in their animal forms hadn't changed anything. Draco still wasn't sure how he felt about Hermione. No matter how Draco had treated Hermione, her betrayal had been a great one and Draco wasn't sure that he could ever forgive her.

For that matter Hermione was almost equally conflicted. After thinking logically she had realized her hypocrisy in placing all the blame on Draco. Sure, he had "cheated" on her and had lied about it, but she had been lying for their entire relationship. And Hermione was afraid of her feelings for Draco. Was she really ready to be in love with someone this much? Given the chance, Hermione was almost certain that she would be willing to spend the rest of her life with Draco. But was she ready?

Hermione was still young. She was only eighteen and she had her entire life ahead of her. Draco was only seventeen (he wouldn't be eighteen for several months) and Hermione knew that they were too young to be so serious. But how could she tell her heart that?

The year, and there Hogwarts career, were coming to a close. There was the usual flurry of end-of-year activities: the younger students were eager to get home and the older ones were conflicted. The mixture of excitement, sadness, and dread was palpable amongst all of the seventh year students. There was not only fear of leaving Hogwarts, but also the intense fear of sitting the NEWTS. By the time that the NEWTS actually came around three seventh years had had nervous breakdowns and one, who hadn't slept in at least a week so that he could study, had passed out in the middle of a very crowded hallway.

Hermione, as always, became very anxious about her tests. She studied obsessively and when she wasn't studying she was yelling at Harry and Ron to make them study. She was spending most of her time in the Gryffindor common room now to avoid Draco. Many nights, because she was studying so late, she simply slept on one of the couches in the common room.

Up until the day of the test Hermione was a nervous wreck, even studying under the table during classes. On the day of the test she was calm and focused. She sank into something almost like a trance where not even Harry' and Ron's nerves (which had finally kicked in) could disturb her. She sat the tests and when they were over she smiled in relief, knowing that she had done well. Harry and Ron were less certain, but they didn't seem to care much whether or not they had done well; they were just happy that it was all over. Now there was only a week left until graduation and life at Hogwarts would be over.

After the test Hermione, Harry, and Ron relaxed on the lawn with the rest of the students. It was a beautiful day and the sun bathed them all in golden warmth. Hermione looked around, remembering the lawn silvered with moonlight as she ran about as a lioness.

"Wanna see something cool?" She asked the boys on a whim.

"Sure," Harry replied. Ron shrugged noncommitally.

Hermione concentrated for a moment before changing herself. Harry and Ron gasped and jumped up as their friend was replaced with a lioness. Hermione grinned her feline grin at them before slowly pacing around them, purring loudly. She then sat back down and changed back into her own form.

"Bloody hell!" Ron whispered. "That's amazing, Hermione! When'd you learn to do that?"

"Remember when McGonagle tested us? I've been studying since then."

"Wow, Hermione," Harry grinned. "That's pretty impressive."

Hermione smiled and preened under their praise. A flash of silver hair caught her eye and she saw Draco staring at her. He was smiling slightly, a kinder look than his usual smirk. Hermione smiled back and nodded so slightly that Harry and Ron didn't notice. But Draco had. His smile widened. Then he abruptly turned and walked away.

"Miss Granger!" A voice cried from behind Hermione. "How long have you been able to change?" Hermione spun around to see McGonagle. The transfiguration professor had ended the animagus lessons because of her tension with Hermione. She had decided that the head boy and girl already knew enough, and that all they lacked was the willpower to change.

Hermione blushed. McGonagle was smiling at her for the first time in weeks. "A couple of weeks, I guess," she mumbled.

"Congratulations, my dear!" McGonagle embraced Hermione tightly. Hermione was pretty startled by the display of affection; even before their estrangement McGonagle had never been particularly affectionate.

"Um, thank you," Hermione muttered, rather embarrassed.

"Can Mr. Malfoy change too?"

"Uh, I guess so," Hermione looked away.

McGonagle surveyed her slowly. "Look, Miss Granger, I've been meaning to talk to you," she seemed rather awkward.

Harry and Ron, who had been watching in startled amusement, got the idea and quietly moved away.

"Yes professor?"

McGonagle looked even more uncomfortable. "Miss Granger, it's very hard for me to say this, but I treated you unfairly. Miss McKay was my responsibility, not yours, and I apologize for the way I have been treating you."

Hermione, who was also rather uncomfortable, smiled somewhat stiffly. It was strange to hear someone who she respected so much admit that she was human. "It's alright professor, I understand completely. I was responsible too, and I should've said something."

"Would've, could've, should've," McGonagle smiled more genuinely. "Let us leave the past behind us, dear. I would hate to end your time here badly; after all, you are the best student I've ever had. Well, good-day." With that she squeezed Hermione's shoulder and walked away.

Hermione was stunned. McGonagle was never one for over-due praise. She slowly walked over to where Harry and Ron had moved and sat down heavily next to them. "Have you ever had one of those moments," she started. "When you realize that adults are really people?"

Ron looked at her blankly, but Harry nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I figured that out about Dumbledore a while ago."

"God, McGonagle's enough for one day, I don't even want to think about Dumbledore," Hermione shuddered. Imagine, someone so all-knowing being just as infallible as everyone else. It was almost terrifying. Then she smirked evilly. "And just think, they're just like us sexually too."

"EEWWW!" Ron yelled. Harry made gagging noises. Hermione laughed.

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It was the night before graduation. They had what they called the Seventh Years' Ball, which was basically a prom. It was exactly like every other school dance, but seventh years were actually allowed to have alcoholic beverages. Of course, this always resulted in disaster because many seventh years brought younger dates and several younger students snuck in. Needless to say there was much drunken foolishness.

One of those younger students invited to the ball was Ginny Weasley: she was Harry's date. As the two planned for the dance they were ridiculously lovey-dovey and Hermione and Ron were almost constantly awkward. Hermione had no date; even if she and Draco had still been talking, they wouldn't have gone together, it was far too public. Ron didn't have a date either, so the two decided to go together, but in a strictly platonic way.

The day of the dance was spent in a frenzy of last minute preparation. There was hair to be styled, make-up to be applied, and dresses and dress-robes to be pulled on. Harry had his same old bright green dress-robes which perfectly matched the color of his eyes. Ron had dispensed with the frilly maroon robes long ago when Fred and George bought him an ordinary black pair of robes. Ginny was wearing a red ball gown which made her look lovely and which complemented her red hair very nicely. Unfortunately, when Harry and Ginny stood next to one another, they looked suspiciously like Christmas decorations.

Hermione spent a great deal of time considering what to where to the ball. It would be her last Hogwarts party, her last chance to make a statement. Her last chance to try to win Draco back. So, taking everything into consideration, she decided to return to her old style.

Harry gasped in surprise, Ron's eyes bulged and Ginny looked extremely shocked and confused as Hermione entered the portrait hole to meet them before the dance. She had snuck out of the head common room to avoid Draco: she wanted to surprise him at the dance.

"Hermione?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Yes, dear?" She smiled sweetly.

"Um, what're you wearing?" Harry finished for Ron.

"Clothes, silly." And with that Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and swept him off to the dance. Harry and Ginny shrugged and followed, Ginny whispering, "She looks crazy. Pretty, but crazy." Harry's only response was, "She looks like Jule."

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The golden trio (plus Ginny) entered the Great Hall a little late, so that the party was already in swing by the time that they got there. They were greeted by all the eyes in the hall turning towards them. There was the usual Harry Potter excitement, but most of the eyes were on Hermione Granger, who looked exceedingly strange. Draco noticed that everyone was looking at the doors, so he looked too and froze in shock.

There stood Hermione, his Hermione, and she looked... like May. Only not. Her face was her own, but her make-up (black eye-liner, bright red lipstick and golden eye-liner) was exactly what he would have expected from May. She wore a punked-out ball gown that had a knee-length red tulle skirt, a black corset top, and short, puffy red sleeves. (A/N: the mental picture I have of Hermione's dress is my favorite outfit I've written for her so far. I might even draw a sketch and try to post it online.) She wore fishnet stockings and her good old combat boots. Her hair was straightened, cut short and ragged, colored candy-apple red with golden stripes, and worn in two spiky pig-tails. She even had short, spiky straight bangs.

Most everyone was shocked, and a few people looked disgusted or scandalized. Everyone else was dressed in their evening best and here was Hermione Granger, the Head Girl, dressed like a complete freak. Draco grinned broadly.

He stayed away from Hermione for most of the night, but he never took his eyes off of her. He watched as she drank punch, ate dance snack foods, and danced with Ron and Harry. She stood out from the rest of the crowd very easily. She was almost like a dandelion in a bed of roses: technically she was a weed, but she was still exceedingly pretty.

Since Draco wasn't with Hermione, and he was fairly sick of his house-mates, he spent the dance in solitude. He danced a couple of times when girls asked him, but he quickly lost interest in them and wandered off so that he could get more punch.

Even though the students could technically drink, for the most-part they were too scared to get anything. McGonagle and Snape took turns standing by the bar to ensure that the younger students at the ball couldn't drink. The result was that very few seventh years were brave enough to get alcoholic beverages and almost everyone ended up drinking punch. At least, at first. But as the night wore on the students became much bolder and the student population degenerated into drunkenness.

For once Draco and Hermione stayed sober at a party and didn't end up waking up naked in the same bed. But Draco did eventually ask Hermione to dance.

Hermione was seated quietly next to Harry and Ron, who were engaged in a drinking contest. They were trying to see who could drink more shots, but neither was doing well and they were already rather smashed. Ginny had her face down on her arms and was drowsing lightly after Harry had snuck her a few cocktails. Hermione was primly sipping a martini, but other than that hadn't had any other drinks all night.

Hermione spun around at a light tap on her shoulder and there was Draco Malfoy, dressed in deep black dress robes and looking like a dark angel with his perfect pale-blond hair and silver eyes. "Wanna dance?" It wasn't really a question. Hermione could only nod mutely and take his hand.

It was a slow song and Draco held Hermione close against him with her head on his shoulder and his arms encircling her. They didn't need words. About half-way through the dance Hermione pulled back enough so that they were face to face. As they looked into each others eyes Draco leaned in and kissed Hermione deeply, neither caring that the entire seventh year student body could see them.

After a time the song came to an end and the two stepped off the dance floor to sit at a table in the corner, out of sight of most of the dance.

"So," Hermione started, suddenly feeling awkward. "What does all this mean?"

"I don't know," Draco shrugged. "Can't we just enjoy the evening and not think about it?"

"Draco, we're leaving the day after tomorrow. It's not exactly like we'll be interacting on a regular basis after graduation."

Draco frowned. "I don't have an answer for you." There was a long silence.

"Fine," Hermione decided at length. "Do what you want to do. Just know that I love you. I don't think that I'll ever love anyone like I love you." She stood to leave.

"Wait," Draco caught her hand. "Where are you going? Are you going back to the Gryffindor common room like you have been?"

"Why?" Hermione looked at him through her eyelashes. "Do you want me to?"

Draco shook his head mutely. "I want you to come back to our common room. With me."

Hermione nodded and followed him out of the Great Hall. They walked in silence, hands linked, through the empty halls of Hogwarts until they reached the common room. Draco spoke their password and guided Hermione into his room where they made love. For some reason Hermione knew that this was a good-bye, and she almost cried when she realized that. She was able to keep her tears at bay until Draco had fallen asleep and then she sobbed silently, curling up against Draco's warm body and savoring this last opportunity to be close to him.

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Hermione woke early and pulled herself away from Draco's sleeping form. She pulled her clothing together and stumbled through her bedroom and into her bathroom. She removed the charms on her face and, after a moment of thought, left her hair the way it was. After a quick shower she pulled on her usual uniform and robes, left her short, ragged hair down and proceeded to graduation.

The professors were erecting grand-stands on the lawn outside along with a stage with a podium at its center. A couple of parents had already arrived by apparating into Hogsmeade and walking up to the castle and the train would be arriving in a couple of hours with all the muggle parents. Spotting Dumbledore, Hermione walked over to him.

"Good morning, Professor," she smiled broadly at him, although the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Ah, Miss Granger!" Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled brightly, almost to the point of tears. "You're extremely early, good, good! Sherbert lemon?" He held out a candy to her. He looked so excitedly sad that Hermione took the candy, and upon eating it realized that it was actually rather tasty. "Excellent! Are you nervous at all, my dear?" Dumbledore continued.

Hermione shrugged. "Not very, sir. I've been dreading leaving, but now that the moment is here, I'm actually a little excited. Whatever the future holds, I think I'm ready to face it."

Dumbledore's eyes became even glossier. "I am very happy to hear you say that, Miss Granger. And I am very proud of you, by the way. I heard just this morning that you had received that internship I told you about."

"Really?" That was news to her. But then again, Dumbledore knew everything, so him finding out about her job before she did wasn't really all that surprising.

"This is always a difficult time of year for me," Dumbledore continued. "I am always proud that my students are growing up, and I wish them well, but it always feels as though I am losing a few more of my children."

Hermione looked at Dumbledore again, realizing that he really did consider every single student his own son or daughter. "Did you ever have any children, sir? Other than the students, I mean." Realizing what she had said, Hermione hurriedly continued, "Not to be rude, sir."

"Not at all, Miss Granger," Dumbledore paused. "I did have a child once, a daughter, but she died long ago."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Oh, it's quite all right, Miss Granger," Dumbledore smiled sadly. "Some creatures, and people, are too good for this earth, and I truly believe that my daughter was one of them. Better for her to be at peace than to face the difficult times ahead, and difficult they will be."

They stood in silence for a moment, both feeling extremely depressed. They were brought out of their gloom by McGonagle striding purposefully towards them, black robes flapping about her. "Miss Granger, what has happened to your hair?" She demanded.

"Professor, didn't you see it last night?" Hermione asked in wide-eyed innocence. "I wore it this way to the ball."

"Yes, but I thought that you would have fixed it by this morning," McGonagle seemed dismayed. "You do know how, don't you?"

"Of course, professor, but I like it this way," Hermione smiled widely.

"It is the House colors, Minerva," Dumbledore added. "And I think it looks delightful."

"Thank you, sir," Hermione graced him with her most charming smile.

McGonagle's mouth opened and closed in bafflement for several moments. At last she shrugged, "Very well then. You do have your speech written, don't you?"

Hermione nodded. As the top of her class in every subject, Hermione had been chosen to give a speech after everyone had received a diploma. She had put a lot of effort into the speech and she was fairly happy with how it had turned out.

"I'm just going to sit down for a little while and look over it," she excused herself, feeling low again. Her mood had been jumping up and down all morning. It was true that she was confident about the future, but she was also very sad now. It really was over with Draco. All she wanted to do now was lie down and cry.

She read over her speech a few times, but eventually she ended up just sitting on one of the bleachers and staring blankly at the parchment it was written on. There was nothing to do until the parents arrived, so she sat there, staring at the speech and thinking about Draco.

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Draco woke up alone. So, another Hermione one-night-stand type deal. At least they had been sober this time. In classic Hermione fashion she was gone, but Draco wasn't exactly upset. It was better that he have some time to plan what he would say to Hermione, especially since he still had no idea himself. He wasn't ready to say good-bye, but he wasn't ready to be with her either. Opting not to worry about Hermione until he had to, Draco showered and got dressed for graduation.

He had woken much later than Hermione, only a half-hour before the actual ceremony, so as soon as he was ready he made his way down to the lawn. Many parents had arrived to watch their children graduate and the bleachers were full of them and the younger students. The seventh years got to stand. They all wore their uniforms and black robes, but as Draco joined the line he was given a silver stole to drape over his shoulders. The rest of the seventh years all had stoles too, each in the secondary color of their houses. He was shuffled into alphabetical order with the other "M"s and only had to wait a moment before the ceremony began.

"Welcome, all," Dumbledore began. "To the graduation of the class of 2004!" There was a bit of cheering. "Now, let's get this show moving," Dumbledore continued. "Let us start with Abbot, Hannah." And so it continued down the line. Everyone received a few claps, but Hermione, whose stole was gold and edged in purple signifying that she was first in the class, received extra applause. Draco, a little later, didn't receive nearly as much applause, but he did get a lovely scrolled up diploma and a handshake from Dumbledore. Harry, of course, received the most applause of anyone and even merited a small hug from the Headmaster. A little later it was time for Blaise Zabini to receive his diploma and then they were done.

"And now," announced Dumbledore. "A speech from our top student, Miss Hermione Granger."

Hermione made her way to the podium accompanied by polite clapping and a bit of muttering for her absurd hair. Draco saw that several pure-blooded parents in the audience were scowling, including his mother. Smiling, he clapped loudly and hooted. Hermione noticed and shot him a brief smile.

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione shook Dumbledore's hand once again. "Good morning parents, classmates, and friends. When Professor McGonagle told me that I was meant to write a speech, I spent a great deal of time thinking about what to say. What would I say, how could I possibly sum up everything that I've learned here into one speech? So I thought about everything that I've learned, everything that I've experienced. I've made friends here that, I believe, will last a lifetime. I've grown up from an awkwardly bookish little girl to, I think, a more confident, more secure woman. I've learned more than I ever thought that I possibly could, about magic and life. I've fallen in love here for the first time," here she paused to look straight at Draco. He felt his heart stop as he looked back. "I think that when I say this, most of my classmates can agree; Hogwarts has not only been a school: it's been a home. We have spent nine months out of the last seven years in this building, on these grounds, and no matter where we go, or whatever more we learn, Hogwarts will always be a true home.

"But, surprisingly enough, I'm not afraid. I'm headed to a good job with the ministry of magic, and, although I have no idea what else, the future looks bright. I may be leaving my home, but I know that the things that I have learned here will always be with me. And so, with thanks to my devoted professors, and a very fond farewell, I would like to say congratulations to the graduating class of 2004! And good luck!"

The crowd applauded, like they were supposed to, and Hermione bowed her head. She then strode off the stage to stand near Harry and Ron.

"Thank you, Miss Granger, very much!" Dumbledore was smiling broadly. "And now, if you would care to stay, there will be lunch served in the Great Hall very shortly. Thank you everyone!" And with that graduation was over.

Draco wandered aimlessly through the crowd of students who stood about chatting and hugging tearfully.

"Draco!" A voice called from behind him. "Draco, dear!" Groaning inwardly Draco turned around to be hugged by hid mother. "Oh, sweet-heart, I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, Mother," Draco limply hugged her back.

"My little boy's all grown up," she dramatically wiped her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

"Yes, Mother," Draco sighed. A flash of candy-apple red hair caught his eye as Hermione walked by, smiling and talking animatedly with her parents, Harry, and the entire Weasley clan. She spotted him and gave him another of her secret little smiles.

"Look, Mother, I'm pretty hungry, so I'm going to go to lunch." Draco turned to go.

"Would you like me to come with you, sweety?"

"That's all right, you just go home."

Draco left without bothering to see if she had gone. He ran after the group of Gryffindors and tapped Hermione on the shoulder. "Come talk to me," he whispered. She nodded and continued off with her friends and family. Draco dropped back.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom, I'll see you guys at lunch," Hermione excused herself and joined Draco. They were so distracted that they didn't even notice that she had walked away from the castle, rather than towards it and the closest bathroom.

"What's up?" Hermione asked briskly.

Draco was taken aback. "Didn't you want to talk?"

Hermione shrugged. "I did. There's nothing to talk about anymore, though, is there? We're leaving; it's over."

"Well that's news to me," Draco was getting angry. "I thought we were going to discuss things."

"Draco, do you want to be with me?" Hermione demanded abruptly.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Fine, then I'll see you around, I guess," Hermione started walking away.

"How can you be so calm about this?" He cried, grasping her hand.

"Because, Draco, I've known since last night that that was the end of us: it was a good-bye. And yes, inside my heart is breaking, but I can't deal with that right now Draco, and I can't deal with you. So good-bye, Draco. I love you, and good-bye."

And with that she was gone, walked right out of Draco's life. She didn't go to the Great Hall, and neither did Draco. He sat under a tree by the lake to grieve his first love and she retreated to the astronomy tower to cry herself out.

The next time that they saw each other was as they were leaving the Hogwarts Express. Hermione was exiting the train station and Draco was staring intently at her back. Feeling his gaze, Hermione turned around. Smiling sadly, she blew him a kiss and waved good-bye. Before Draco could even wave back she was gone. And that was that.

THE END.

Of course, there is a sequel that I will start posting extremely soon, so ha! You can't get rid of me that easily!

Ugh, so much Drama. A lot of this chapter may seem random, but it all makes sense to me. So, thank you all for being so very dedicated and I hope that you've enjoyed the story. I know the ending is awful: writing this right now practically makes me want to kill myself. But there is the sequel, so it's not really the end. The sequel will be called "Reunion" which happens to be the name of one of my old stories. But, if you've read that before, don't worry: the name and the general concept is the same, but the new version is more directly linked to this story. READ IT!


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